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Co-Existence Between Organic & Genetically Engineered Crops is Impossible

10/1/05

QUOTE: ""Co-existence" might be a convenient thing to have politically or commercially but biologically it is an impossibility."
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Experts maintain "co-existence" of GM and GM-free crops is biologically impossible

Leading experts maintain that it is biologically impossible for GM and GM-free crops to co-exist, at a conference organised by Consumers International (CI) and Regione Emilia-Romagna. Ignacio Chapela, Associate Professor at University of California-Berkeley, told CI: ""Co-existence" might be a convenient thing to have politically or commercially but biologically it is an impossibility. For most GMOs the problem of contamination arises immediately: within one generation you have escaping genes."

Ignacio Chapela was one of fourteen experts speaking at a conference '"Co-existence", contamination, and GM-free zones: Jeopardising consumer choice?' in Bologna, Italy on 9 September 2005. Speeches mostly tackled problems with GM contamination and how to legally and technically maintain GM-free agriculture.
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Angelika Hilbeck, ETH - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, told the conference: "trying to prevent GMO contamination starts with the seeds; you want to make sure you get uncontaminated seeds. This is the origin of everything - from there on the contamination multiplies. For example, in Canada it is hardly possible to get GM-free canola seeds any more. Even the seed stock has been contaminated at this point."

Benedikt Haerlin, Director of Save our Seeds and Foundation on Future Farming, told CI: " "co-existence" as used by industry means that those rejecting GMOs have to accept a so-called minimum level of GM contamination."

David Cuming, GM Campaigns Manager, Consumers International says: "Listening to the experts it is apparent that contamination will occur if GM crops are planted alongside GM-free crops. Governments must take urgent measures to stop GMO contamination to ensure that GM-free food remains widely available to all consumers."

Read speeches, exclusive interviews, and other resources about GMO contamination, "co-existence " and GM-free zones: http://www.consumersinternational.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=93963&int1stParentNodeID=89650&int2ndParentNodeID=89677

Consumers International is a federation of consumer organisations dedicated to the protection and promotion of consumer's rights worldwide through empowering national consumer groups and campaigning at the national level. It currently represents 234 organisations in 113 countries. For more information, see: www.consumersinternational.org

Head Office
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London N5 1RX, UK
Tel: +44 20 7226 6663
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www.consumersinternational.org

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This GMO news service is underwritten by a generous grant from the Newman's Own Foundation, edited by Thomas Wittman and is a production of the Ecological Farming Association www.eco-farm.org <http://www.eco-farm.org/>
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but, let us not forget, humanity has deliberately eradicated millions of strains over thousands of years, with the hope that we could create more nurishment with less labor and weed infiltration.

my gosh, we eradicated grain strains that failed to have enough kernels back before Columbus even considered finding slaves in this hemisphere. We destroyed thousands of "unfriendly" strains with chemicals, eradication, then with cross-breeding for hundreds of years.

today, we have really sped up the process, and unfortunately, by having such a powerful tool, without the knowledge, experience or foresight, we risk a LOT of trouble. on the other hand, we have a new toy, one that can feed everyone on this planet, safely, without pesticides, chemicals and without poluting the ground water.

it is a difficult situation. I think the bottom line has to be
SAFETY FIRST, then profits and progress. anything else is destined to damn us.

...sector. It's simultaniously too important and too dangerous to be left up to the profit motive to regulate properly. All GMO research should (effectively, by not allowing the patenting of genomes...)) be done on the governments dime and the results put into the public domain. Like nuclear power, it's too useful to not do, but too dangerous to do badly.

and burrocrats can stomp on things so badly.

Let's take social security. It works. It works beautifully. It saves millions from poverty. could it be better? duh, yeah. but put some assholes in office like Shrub&Co, and their burrocrats can make shit out of silver, puke out of pewter and crap out of Cadmium. Not to mention graft out of any contract within their reach.

I really think that individuals have a unique ability to create, but socially, with exchanges of ideas, we do even better. We are a social creature. Look at the most successive concentrated collection of minds and effort in our history. We concocted the atom bomb in a year and a half. the best, the brightest under great stress. amazing.

Salviati, I cannot disagree, so long as we allow personal initiative and creativity, along with the best of social interaction and communication. it is useful, and dangerous both.

At the heart of this issue is a fundimental problem of institutions. No matter how well intentioned an institution starts, it invariably become corrupted by the tendancy to place it's own self preservation above it's original goals; but the problem is we need institutions in order to coordinate the efforts of many people spread out geographicly or throuout time. It's a tough nut to crack...

A dysfunctional one is horrific. I've dealt with and worked for both.

Being self-employed now, I hope mine is the former, not the latter. :)

But as some organizations go, if you think about it, the post office delivers trillions of pieces of mail a week. with an extremely low error rate. That is pretty damn good.
Social security saves the lives of millions. That is pretty damn good.

Bush makes me so mad, most of the time.

One promotes health the other brings "illth"

I can't read it right now.

I just want my food to be food. I guess I'll have to grow it in my own basement, and seal all the windows with duct tape to keep it safe

:(

It's the people who control the process that we should be worried about.