Last week Hugo and I attended a nearby community meeting concerning

a local farmer, Marshall Bailleau growing canola near a suburban area.

The 60 or so people who were there were all there because of their

concern regarding how his crop was going to affect them.

Marshall’s argument was that he was doing the community a service by growing GM canola

because he could stop using deadly weedicides - which he said were more

harmful than Roundup which was perfectly safe and did not harm

the environment. He added that the bees loved visiting his canola too.

He then pointed out how much research he had done prior to planting

the GM crop - he had read the OGTR all 212 pages of it, and in particular pointed out

that GM canola was safe to human health. He also referred

to the Vic Govt report headed by Sir Gus Nossal which found GM to be

of benefit to the environment. Lastly to add his final blow he left copies

of the Vic Govt media release which promised that GM canola would be

kept separate from other grains and that consumers would be able to

choose GM or nonGM because it would be labelled.

He also said that his growing GM canola would not affect anyone else

because there were no cases where GM canola had escaped!

Hugo and I were shaking our heads by this time. I have to say that

I did get up in particular to express my opinion regarding Monsanto’s

corporate strategy to make the farmers pawns in their hands. Also

to state that many farmers are not finding any need to use any chemicals

to get rid of weeds. I also asked if he was aware that the French farmers

had discovered that Roundup was harmful to the environment as it

was escaping into the nearby waterways. Due to this fact Monsanto are

forbidden by law to advertise that it is non residual. His response

was that the Roundup used here was different!

The evening concluded with 2 votes: 1. To recommend that the 2

neighbouring shires be GM Free and 2. That any person or business

affected by the growing of GM be compensated. both votes passed

almost unanimously.

The thing that amazed us most that Marshall had the courage to come to

a local meeting but was so out of touch with his community. He seemed to

have no sense of anything being awry. Does he realise that believing that

Monsanto is better for the farmers is akin to believing that the fox will

look after the chickens?!

What do you think?

Hi Helen
Re the bill on organic farming & with out prejudice against , any one , to say that it is not on the drawing board to try to control organic farming & this is only a stepping stone to the next phase of controlling all farming it is being done by stealth , and if any one thinks this is not on the agenda then they need to pull their out of the sand & start thinking for themselves  & don`t be fooled by window dressing that the powers that be con those of you who allow them to do so ,, check out the article on the web site below  you might find it interesting
David

Prime example of the control the government is trying to gain on people. Don’t think this can’t happen if you are in Australia as I have already seen proof of this sort of thing happening here, it is in the works.

We had this response from Tim Marshall, a person whom we respect for his

vast experience with the organic industry. It is cautionary.

“There has been a barrage of emails lately warning about a Bill before the US Congress known as HR 875 or  the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009.

The bill claims to seek improvements to food safety and proposes increased regulation.

Critics of the bill fear that food safety is being used as a Trojan horse to create a more favorable business climate for corporate agriculture.

Emails have suggested that home gardening and seed-saving will be banned and that the bill is sponsored by Monsanto.

Most of these interpretations do not sit well with the facts of the Bill as I read it or as it has been reported by responsible organic press in the USA such as the Organic Consumers Association.

There is, for instance, no direct involvement of Monsanto in the Bill, and it does not seek to ban home vegetable production or regulate seed-saving.

Another Bill, HR 759 does include proposals to extend traceability record keeping requirements applying to farms, food processors and restaurants and to establish production standards for fruits and vegetables, so-called “Good Agricultural Practices.”

These Good Agriculture Practices are mostly written in a way that makes them applicable to larger and corporate farms although even this Bill does not claim to end small-scale production.

Both of the bills do aim to make factory-farmed food safer so we can avoid E.coli in spinach and to regulate other aspects of the food industry, and probably include regulations that most of us would support. There is an issue if small and family-owned farms are required to comply as there are far fewer problems associated with them, but high costs of compliance.

I don’t want to support the bills, but it is important to realise that the internet, while a fantastic and useful tool, can also easily be used to spread misinformation.

People who would like to follow news on the proposed regulation (and other organic food and agriculture developments in the USA) can visit http://www.organicconsumers.org and subscribe to a free email newsletter.”

Big GM
By Brett Sanders and Hugh Lovel

The GM (Genetic Manipulation) food giants and their sleek, clever lobbyists happily herald a new dawn where manipulation of genes has made crop varieties fantastically more productive and nutritious whilst greater tolerance of toxic chemistry miraculously becomes reduced usage. The mind-bending logic of these rosy projections blithely glosses over the fact there is no strategy that ensures Pandora’s genes stay in her pants. Hundreds of North American farmers have waged courtroom battles with the legal armies of the GM industry over GM contamination of their crops, with the Monsanto and Co. party line being that, of course, their genes are so desirable that everyone is trying to steal them—any complaints about contamination are simply a ruse to rip off their patents without paying. Judges are left to scratch their heads and look for precedents, while Monsanto’s legal strategists have cleverly laid down a game plan of suing for patent infringement early and hard in sympathetic courtrooms. What we see is an uphill battle that has independent researchers, medical doctors and farmers wearing expressions like they’ve been eating raw lemons by the crate.
Rather than investing in building carbon into our burnt out, thirsty soils or funding sound water conservation and allocation, billions in public money has been pumped into GM food research by the Australian Government with sweet bippy to show for it. CSIRO had to abandon research on GM peas because they caused inflammation in the lung tissues of mice. Similarly CSIRO’s research into non-browning fruit and veggies was dropped since turning off the ‘browning’ gene made these GM plants more susceptible to fungus attack.
Well known nutritionist, Rosemary Stanton, says “Claims that GM foods are essential to feed the increasing world population are absurd.” As she points out, trying to genetically manipulate foods that are more productive and nutritious “avoids confronting the real problems.” Considering the mainstream agricultural paradigm of beating the environment into submission and flooding it with poisonous, non-renewable resources has a use-by date, Rosemary seems to be onto something.

Dear Readers,  below is a very disturbing e-mail received concerning Bill HR 875  to outlaw organic farming!!! Please watch these videos and take action!!!! This could be happening very very soon!

—————————————————————————————————

Greetings All!
>
> This is SO important I ask PLEASE READ IT NOW, thank you!
> and,
> Please forward to everyone you know…..now…..
>
> US House and Senate are about (in a week and a half) to vote on a bill that
> will OUTLAW ORGANIC FARMING (bill HR 875). There is an enormous rush to get
> this into law within the next 2 weeks before people realize what is
> happening.
>
> Main backer and lobbyist is Monsanto - chemical and genetic engineering
> giant corporation (and Cargill, ADM, and about 35 other related
> agri-giants). This bill will require organic farms to use specific
> fertilizers and poisonous insect sprays dictated by the newly formed agency
> to “make sure there is no danger to the public food supply”. This will
> include backyard gardens that grow food only for a family and not for sales!
> Scroll down for more details on the bill.
> Scroll down for WHAT YOU CAN DO.
> If this passes then NO more heirloom clean seeds but only Monsanto
> genetically altered seeds that are now showing up with unexpected diseases
> in humans.

The name on this outrageous food plan is:
> Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (bill HR 875).
>
> THIS IS REAL, FOLKS!
> ** PASS THIS ALONG TO ALL CONCERNED ON YOUR
> MAILING LISTS &
> ** CALL YOUR SENATE REPRESENTATIVES TODAY!
>
> Get on that phone and burn up the wires. Get anyone else you can to do the
> same thing.
> The House and Senate WILL pass this if they are not massively threatened
> with loss of their position…. They only fear your voice and your vote.
>
> ** BEST THING TO DO is go to www.house.gov/writerep all you have to do is
> put in your zip and it will give you your congressperson and how to get in
> touch with them. When you call their office someone will answer the phone,
> just tell them (politely) that you are calling to express your views on HR
> 875.
> Tell them your views, they’ll take your name and address and pass your
> comments along to the congressperson.
>
> The following link is a list of the U.S. senators and their contact info:
> http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
>
> Thank you for your time
> peace, love and participation for change!
> tewa
>
> Here’s another link with more info:
> http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=12671
> HR 875 The food police, criminalizing organic farming and the backyard
> gardener, and violation of the 10th amendment
>
> HR 875 is being steamrolled thru the House and we have to pick up the pace!
> HR 875
> http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c111:1:./temp/~c1112RD9bb:e11439:
>
> This bill is sitting in committee and I am not sure when it is going to hit
> the floor. One thing I do know is that very few of the Representatives have
> read it. As usual they will vote on this based on what someone else is
> saying. Urge your members to read the legislation and ask for opposition to
> this devastating legislation. Devastating for everyday folks but great for
> factory farming ops like Monsanto, ADM, Sodexo and Tyson to name a few.
>
> I have no doubt that this legislation was heavily influenced by lobbyists
> from huge food producers. This legislation is so broad based that
> technically someone with a little backyard garden could get fined and have
> their property siezed. It will effect anyone who produces food even if they
> do not sell but only consume it. It will literally put all independent
> farmers and food producers out of business due to the huge amounts of money
> it will take to conform to factory farming methods. If people choose to farm
> without industry standards such as chemical pesticides and fertilizers they
> will be subject to a vareity of harassment from this completely new agency
> that has never before existed. That’s right, a whole new government agency
> is being created just to police food, for our own protection of course.
>
> DO NOT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, READ THIS LEGISLATION FOR YOURSELF. The more
> people who read this legislation the more insight we are going to get and be
> able to share. Post your observations and insights below. Urge your members
> to read this legislation and to oppose the passage of this legislation.
>
> Pay special attention to
>
> * Section 3 which is the definitions portion of the bill-read in it’s
> entirety.
> * section 103, 206 and 207- read in it’s entirety.
>
> Red flags I found and I am sure there are more………..
>
> * Legally binds state agriculture depts to enforcing federal guidelines
> effectively taking away the states power to do anything other than being
> food police for the federal dept.
> * Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn’t actually use the word
> organic.
> * Effects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming
> it.
> * Effects anyone producing meat of any kind including wild game.
> * Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing
> food can be made illegal. There are no specifics which is bizarre
> considering how long the legislation is.
> * Section 103 is almost entirely about the administrative aspect of the
> legislation. It will allow the appointing of officials from the factory
> farming corporations and lobbyists and classify them as experts and allow
> them to determine and interpret the legislation. Who do you think they are
> going to side with?
> * Section 206 defines what will be considered a food production facility and
> what will be enforced up all food production facilities. The wording is so
> broad based that a backyard gardener could be fined and more.
> * Section 207 requires that the state’s agriculture dept act as the food
> police and enforce the federal requirements. This takes away the states
> power and is in violation of the 10th amendment.
> * There are many more but by the time I got this far in the legislation I
> was so alarmed that I wanted to bring someone’s attention to it.

—————————————————————————————

We will be following this closely and update you all on the news!!

Please leave your comments below and show your support !!

23.apr.08
Northern Star
Emma O’Neill

Soybean grower Stuart Larsson was cited as saying he believes the success of the Australian soy bean industry rests on the ban of GMOs during the harvest and production of the bean, adding, “The Australian soy bean market isn’t competitive worldwide in terms of production. The only reason we are surviving is because we are one of the only remaining GMO-free markets. It’s vital we stay that way. The government lifted the ban on using GMOs on canola in February, and if the ban was lifted on soy beans as well it would be devastating.”
The lifting of the GMO ban on canola crops wasn’t good news for soy bean growers, according to local agriculture academic Dave Forrest.
“Soy bean growers are already on the list as one of the next crops to lift the ban, and now that the door is open for bees to travel from canola to soy crops,” Mr Forrest said.
“It will make it hard for growers to prove to overseas markets that their soy beans are GMO-free.

Ref:http://www.northernstar.com.au/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3770376