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Author Topic: Monsanto Drops GM Wheat
'lance
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Babbler # 1064

posted 10 May 2004 10:38 PM      Profile for 'lance     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
REGINA - A big reversal from biotech giant Monsanto: the multinational company has shelved plans to introduce its controversial Roundup Ready Wheat.

Monsanto says the decision follows extensive consultations with customers in the wheat industry.

Many countries, especially in Europe, are opposed to genetically modified wheat and some threatened to stop buying any wheat from Canada.

Genetically modified crops are engineered to resist certain herbicides, allowing farmers to kill weeds without killing their crops.


more

I was just listening to Monsanto's spokesflack on As It Happens describe this as a "business decision," nothing to do with pressure from environmentalists, and as being down to a "lack of business alignment" among (petrochemical/biotech) industry, farmers, and gov't.

But it's just a "deferral," she says, not a permanent cancellation.

[ 10 May 2004: Message edited by: 'lance ]


From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001  |  IP: Logged
al-Qa'bong
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posted 11 May 2004 02:40 AM      Profile for al-Qa'bong   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I doubt that the campaign by environmentalists did much to sway Monsanto's bean counters and managaement sharks.

I suspect that the greatest factor in the Monsanto decision was the lack of markets for GM wheat. The Europeans won't buy it, and threatened to stop buying any Canadian wheat if we started growing Roundup Ready varieties. Further research was hence costing them money for nothing.

Profit, not the risk of contaminating our croplands, was the greater concern here.

[ 11 May 2004: Message edited by: al-Qa'bong ]


From: Saskatchistan | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged
DrConway
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posted 11 May 2004 03:32 AM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
... and six months later Monsanto will mysteriously begin marketing a "new, improved, pesticide-resistant" variant of wheat seeds that just happens to also not germinate, meaning that farmers will get suckered into having to repeatedly buy their seeds from Monsanto.
From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
lonecat
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posted 11 May 2004 03:48 AM      Profile for lonecat   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I am glad the EC brought enough pressure to bear on Monsanto to indefinitely delay the release of GM Wheat. If what my research indicates is true, GMOs are scary! The long-term consequences of this stuff could pollute the chain of life on this planet for many years to come.
This is still a victory.

From: Regina | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
'lance
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Babbler # 1064

posted 11 May 2004 12:57 PM      Profile for 'lance     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
I suspect that the greatest factor in the Monsanto decision was the lack of markets for GM wheat. The Europeans won't buy it, and threatened to stop buying any Canadian wheat if we started growing Roundup Ready varieties.

True, but surely the extent to which environmentalists publicized the issue had something to do with Europeans' reluctance to buy.


From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001  |  IP: Logged
lonecat
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posted 11 May 2004 11:50 PM      Profile for lonecat   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I would hope the environmental movement had an impact on the European nations, since that movement is more entrenched and seasoned in Europe than in North America.
GM Wheat is just plain wrong on a variety of levels, ones which I'm sure everyone in this forum is more than familiar with.

From: Regina | Registered: Apr 2004  |  IP: Logged
Rebecca West
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posted 12 May 2004 01:07 PM      Profile for Rebecca West     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I think, to some degree, the Europeans have a longer history of destroying their human habitat, and are better equipped, therefore, to understand the impact of doing so, and are less likely to buy the line that Monsanto - a big, fat, bloated toxic corporate spider - spins. "Genetically modified foods are perfectly safe." Like Agent Orange and DDT? Like fuck they are you greedy, lying bastards.

Anyhoo, just another example of the effectiveness of consumer activism. Ideological, moral, even practical environmental/scientific arguments are useless against these avaricious sociopaths, but they are useful for gathering consumer support. If enough of you don't buy their shit, they won't make it.


From: London , Ontario - homogeneous maximus | Registered: Nov 2001  |  IP: Logged
Rufus Polson
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posted 12 May 2004 01:17 PM      Profile for Rufus Polson     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by al-Qa'bong:
I doubt that the campaign by environmentalists did much to sway Monsanto's bean counters and managaement sharks.

I suspect that the greatest factor in the Monsanto decision was the lack of markets for GM wheat. The Europeans won't buy it, and threatened to stop buying any Canadian wheat if we started growing Roundup Ready varieties. Further research was hence costing them money for nothing.

Profit, not the risk of contaminating our croplands, was the greater concern here.


So it's the campaigns by European environmentalists which were effective. Sounds like we need to get some leaves from their books.


From: Caithnard College | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged

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