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Thank you, GM food makers!
Dec. 31st, 2005 01:32 pmWe now have superweeds that are resistant to herbicides!
The worst thing about genetically-modified foods is that they were not created to benefit people. They were created to benefit farmers and lower production costs by allegedly increasing the efficiency of herbicides. The grain was modified so that it resisted the herbicide, then when you sprayed your field with Brand X herbicide, it would be more effective in killing weeds and leaving your crop alone.
This also locked the farmer into long-term contracts with the seed providers: the farmers could no longer keep seed back for future plantings and had to buy their seed exclusively from people like Monsanto.
Well, guess what! No surprise here, rape seed has cross-bred with a couple of different type of weeds and the weeds are now resistant to Brand X herbicide! And since the new superweed is resistant, it now has a selection advantage over its non-resistant relatives. And here's the best part: seeds from one of these superweeds can lie dormant in the ground for 20-30 years before germinating, thus it is impossible to erradicate without totally sterilizing the field! Well, at least now we have a use for all the nuclear weapons we have sitting in storage. ;)
The thing that I hated the most about GM seed being released (a close second is the US Gov't trying to bully third-world developing countries into taking it) is that the FDA and Dept of Agriculture were handed reports by industry saying "it's all good!". The gov't never conducted long-term tests to see if things like this could happen, which it seems to me that anyone with a basic science education could see that this was pretty much inevitable.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,,1535428,00.html
The worst thing about genetically-modified foods is that they were not created to benefit people. They were created to benefit farmers and lower production costs by allegedly increasing the efficiency of herbicides. The grain was modified so that it resisted the herbicide, then when you sprayed your field with Brand X herbicide, it would be more effective in killing weeds and leaving your crop alone.
This also locked the farmer into long-term contracts with the seed providers: the farmers could no longer keep seed back for future plantings and had to buy their seed exclusively from people like Monsanto.
Well, guess what! No surprise here, rape seed has cross-bred with a couple of different type of weeds and the weeds are now resistant to Brand X herbicide! And since the new superweed is resistant, it now has a selection advantage over its non-resistant relatives. And here's the best part: seeds from one of these superweeds can lie dormant in the ground for 20-30 years before germinating, thus it is impossible to erradicate without totally sterilizing the field! Well, at least now we have a use for all the nuclear weapons we have sitting in storage. ;)
The thing that I hated the most about GM seed being released (a close second is the US Gov't trying to bully third-world developing countries into taking it) is that the FDA and Dept of Agriculture were handed reports by industry saying "it's all good!". The gov't never conducted long-term tests to see if things like this could happen, which it seems to me that anyone with a basic science education could see that this was pretty much inevitable.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gmdebate/Story/0,,1535428,00.html
