GMO - Genetic Engineers and Luddites
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Genetic Engineers and Luddites

Genetic engineering is a rather new trade.  When more than half those alive on the planet today were born there was no such thing as genetic engineering.  So genetic engineers are a new phenomenon.

A person who is frightened of any new phenomenon is often referred to as a Luddite.  A chemical commonly known as DDT, was first synthesised by a German chemist in 1874.  Not until 1939 was it discovered to be a powerful insecticide.  When DDT was first introduced to the world as the final saviour of crops and insect-borne diseases, not many challenged it, and those who eventually did, were called more than Luddites by those selling DDT.

It is now common knowledge that DDT is stored in the fatty tissue around our body and also in many of our organs and there it starts to do the damage.  In very early experiments of DDT on animals, it was found that just 5 parts per million brought about necrosis and disintegration of liver cells; this just scratches the surface with DDT.  Chemicals much worse than those are being produced right now.  Don’t dare to challenge those who produce them or you might be called a Luddite.

In 1962 Rachel Carson published ‘Silent Spring’ and she sounded a warning about the chemical industry and the information that they should have told the world regarding their chemicals; but the chemical industry was keeping silent so as to not upset their business.  Rachel Carson received such abuse, threats and character assassination that in a so-called ‘just and free world’ it should be unthinkable.  Today if anybody were to dismiss her concerns as nonsense they would rightly be called an idiot.

Genetic engineering we all hope will usher in some wonderful possibilities for us all.  For example, if we could have a gene switched on to grow a new tooth when we needed it, we would all jump at the chance.  We would all totally accept and support it if it meant we could turn on a gene to make us immune to heart attack, arthritis or cancer, that is of course, if the trade-off for such a miracle were not too taxing on our system.

Only some genetic engineers are challenging what they are doing with regards to the genetic manipulation of our food crops.  However the numbers of these concerned geneticists are growing, and many are joining the Union of Concerned Scientists, a 60 000 strong group that contribute to Benbrook Service on Herbicide Tolerance.

Sadly, many of the best paying jobs for genetic engineers is to work for the chemical industry and it is the chemical industry that is tied up in the genetic manipulation of our food crops.  The chemical industry sells chemicals and for them to say that they intend to design plants that don’t need their chemicals when they have billions of dollars worth of chemicals to sell, is just nonsense.

The pollen that is genetically engineered is patented.  This pollen cannot be stopped.  Genetic engineers are designing plants, where the plants viability can be switched on or off by only using the chemicals sold by the chemical company that controls these specific plants.

Anybody that says that this technology is not on the table is lying.  This is just one of the horror stories that lie just around the corner.  This technology has nothing to do with feeding a starving world; it is about selling chemicals because that is what chemical companies do.

Remember this is just the beginning.  Normally when some disaster strikes, we can eventually fix it.  This pollen will move around our country and slowly but surely tie us into the chemical industry.  The pollen is patented and eventually all of us through our farmers and gardeners will have to pay a royalty to a chemical company for every mouthful of food we eat.  There could be wonders with GE/GM crops in the future but what is being forced upon us now, is looking more and more like a form of biological terrorism.  See what the Australian group, the Network Of Concerned Farmers, have to say about GE/GM crops.

Even the home garden will not be immune because in the end you can’t stop the pollen.  That is why there is so much silence on this issue.  It is a road of no return and that is a biological fact.

Let us ask the genetic engineers, the botanists and the biologists, who will speak honestly to us about: -
 
  • Broadly based gene pools and the narrowing of these gene pools,
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  • Patented pollen,
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  • Vavilov Centres.
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    But let’s hurry, because unless we stop them, they intend to start with the commercial planting of genetically engineered crops in Australia by May 2004; and almost nobody knows about it.  Is this a responsible thing to do to the genetic heritage that we should be passing on intact, to our children?

    Perhaps there is somebody with the time to explain this issue to our Prime Minister.