Posted on 10/14/2001 9:01:09 AM PDT by schmalman
It's official now. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced last week that it has concluded negotiations to license the notorious Terminator' technology to its seed industry partner, Delta & Pine Land (D&PL). As a result of joint research, the USDA and D&PL are co-owners of three patents on the controversial technology, that genetically modifies plants to produce sterile seeds, preventing farmers from re-using harvested seed. A licensing agreement establishes the terms and conditions under which a party can use a patented technology.
Although many of the gene-giants hold patents on Terminator technology, D&PL is the only company that has publicly declared its intention to commercialise Terminator seeds. "USDA's decision to license Terminator flies in the face of international public opinion and betrays the public trust," said Ms Hope Shand, research-director of an international organisation dedicated to sustainable use of bio-diversity - RAFI. "Terminator technology has been universally condemned by civil society; banned by international agricultural research institutes, censured by United Nation bodies, even shunned by Monsanto, and yet the US Government has officially sanctioned commercialisation of the technology by licensing it to one of the world's largest seed companies," explains Ms Shand. "USDA's role in developing Terminator seeds is a disgraceful example of corporate welfare, involving a technology that is bad for farmers, dangerous for the environment and disastrous for world food security," adds Ms Silvia Ribeiro of RAFI.
Terminator has been universally opposed as an immoral technology because over 1.4 billion people, primarily poor farmers, depend on farm-saved seeds as their primary seed source. Mr Michael Schechtman, executive-secretary to USDA's Advisory Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology, made the official announcement regarding the licensing of Terminator at the Committee's August 1 meeting.
The 38-member Advisory Committee, established during the Clinton administration, was created to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on issues related to growing public controversy over GM technology. Although many members of the Biotech Advisory Committee urged the USDA to abandon its patents and forsake all further research on genetic seed sterilisation, the USDA steadfastly declined. The official statement by USDA states that the Agency "had a legal obligation" to license the technology to D&PL.
In a lackluster attempt to quell its critics, the USDA pledged to negotiate licensing restrictions on how the Terminator technology could be deployed by Delta & Pine Land. "In the end, the restrictions negotiated by USDA are meaningless," concludes Mr Michael Sligh, RAFI-USA's director of 'Sustainable Agriculture', and member of the Biotech Advisory Committee. According to Mr Sligh, "USDA's promotion of Terminator technology puts private profits above public good and the rights of farmers everywhere." Mr Sligh spearheaded efforts amongst Advisory Board members who urged the USDA to abandon Terminator. USDA places the following conditions on D&PL's deployment of Terminator:
1) The licensed Terminator technology will not be used in any heirloom varieties of garden flowers and vegetables and it will not be used in any variety of plant available in the market- place before January 1, 2003.
2) USDA scientists will be involved in safety testing of new varieties incorporating the GM trait for seed sterility, and a full and public process of safety evaluation must be completed prior to regulatory sign-off by USDA.
3) All royalties accruing to USDA from the use of Terminator will be earmarked to technology transfer efforts for USDA's Agricultural Research Service innovations that will be made widely available to the public.
USDA concludes that Terminator "is a valuable technology". Ironically, the agency promotes Terminator as a "green" technology that will prevent gene flow from transgenic plants. "We reject the notion that Terminator is a biosafety bandage for GM crops with leaky genes, but even if it were biosafety, at the expense of food security is unacceptable," concludes RAFI's Ms Silvia Ribeiro.
Last year the FAO's panel of eminent experts on Ethics in Food and Agriculture concluded that Terminator seeds are unethical. When heads of state meet at FAO's World Food Summit five years later in Rome, 9-15 November, they will have the opportunity to re-affirm that finding, and recommend that member nations ban the technology. In keeping with its image as a rogue, isolationist state in international treaty negotiations on global warming and biological weapons, the US also appears to stand alone on Terminator.
Delta & Pine Land, USA is the world's 9th largest seed corporation, with revenues of $301 million in 2000. The company has joint ventures and/or subsidiaries in North America, Brazil, Argentina, China, Mexico, Paraguay, South Africa, Australia, and China.
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe20010811/commo15.html
NWO Link To USDA Approving Monsanto's Terminator Seed
From Calvin Howard pinnacle@ctimail.com 8-14-1
Dear Jeff,
I don't know if you are aware, but Delta & Pine Land Corporation is a 28,000 acre experimental farm owned by the Queen of England (Elizabeth Hanover aka Windsor). It lies approx 10 miles north of Greenville, Mississippi on the most fertile black earth farm in America.
Back in the '60's the land was secretly bought up by several different schills under many different names, paying higher than normal prices to local farmers, and then after all the purchases were made the contiguous piece of land became one gigantic farm.
According to records, it is the largest single crop-gowing farm in the U.S. Smells a bit fishy that the USDA is approving seeds from this foreign owned agri-corporation. A little more of the NWO don't you think? Thought you'd like to know
Never mind the proprietary ownership, the concept is sinister and unnerving. Have we all lost our minds!
If companies can't protect their technology and earn profits on it it reduces the incentive to come up with new technology. By creating sterile seeds, people can't poach off the technologies which means a possible explosion in seed innovation.
I see this technology as having potentially catastrophic consequences. It could lead to the extinction of whole species of food on which human beings and animals rely for their survival.
Translation: Greed under the guise of technology applied to crops is good, since it benefits those who are greedy and prevents farmers from escaping this greed.
Sorry. Someone had to ask.
These are horses of a completely different color.
These genes are not unique to one plant species (genome) but are suitable to implant in all plant genomes. What was the line from Jurrasic Park referring to the controls put in place to limit reproduction ..."they will find a way".
Well, I suppose you just don't buy this brand of seed.
It is not the "greedy business" who is your enemy...
Who out there can see the amazing conflict of interest the USDA has in this situation???
Who can see their position of unearned power obtained and protected by force???
The USDA does not need to exist...
If any company chose to bring this product to market on it's own, the customers would determine the success of the product.
The free market always protects itself accordingly...
If no one wanted sterile seeds... No one would buy them...
Result: product off the market...
In other words, the very existence of the product is determined by it's value to the customer, who will choose to purchase it or not...
Those that do not understand this fail to understand the essence of business which earns it's values and government entities which takes it's values...
Maybe you and the other silly wagging tounges. So a compay makes a superior product and wishes to maintain its proprietary edge and disallows others to reproduce it. Hello. Are folks forced at gunpoint to buy it? They most certainly can go about buying the same stuff they have from generic seed suppliers. But if they want the better seed they have to Pay For It. And that means every season having to buy new seed. And if they make more $$$ despite not being able to generate their own seed????
You guys are funny. For a bunch that is supposed to be supporters of freedom you seem to have strong socialist tendencies.
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