BLACKHERBALS.COM
Ethical Investing
Monsanto Terminator Technology -- Worldwide Famine &
Starvation
Return to
Monsanto Unethical
Investment Page / Ethical
Investing Home Page
Monsanto is in the process of acquiring and patenting their
newest technology, known as "Terminator Technology." This technology
is currently the greatest threat to humanity. If it is used by Monsanto on a
large-scale basis, it will inevitably lead to famine and starvation on a
worldwide basis.
Billions of people on the planet are supported by farmers who save seeds from
the crops and replant these seeds the following year. Seeds are planted. The
crop is harvested. And the seeds from the harvest are replanted the following
year. Most farmers cannot afford to buy new seeds every year, so collecting and
replanting seeds is a crucial part of the agricultural cycle. This is the way
food has been grown successfully for thousands of years.
With Monsanto's terminator technology, they will sell seeds to farmers to plant
crops. But these seeds have been genetically-engineered so that when the crops
are harvested, all new seeds from these crops are sterile (e.g., dead,
unusable). This forces farmers to pay Monsanto every year for new seeds if they
want to grow their crops.
In less rich countries, hundreds of millions of people rely heavily on small
farms which produce foods for the region. If these farms begin to use Monsanto's
terminator technology, and cannot afford to buy new genetically engineered seeds
from Monsanto the following year, many of the people in the region may starve.
Under normal circumstances, food could be brought in from other regions.
However, many of those other regions will likely have the same problems with
famine due to Monsanto's terminator technology.
"It's terribly dangerous," says Hope Shand, "half the
world's farmers are poor and can't afford to buy seed every growing season,
yet poor farmers grow 15 to 20% of the world's food and they directly feed at
least 1.4 billion people - 100 million in Latin America, 300 million in
Africa, and 1 billion in Asia. These farmers depend upon saved seed and their
own breeding skills in adapting other varieties for use on their (often
marginal) lands."
What is even more frightening is that traits from genetically-engineered crops
can get passed on to other crops. Once the terminator seeds are released into a
region, the trait of seed sterility could be passed to other
non-genetically-engineered crops making most or all of the seeds in the region
sterile.
Camila Montecinos, an agronomist with the Chilean organization, CET,
has another concern, "We've talked to a number of crop geneticists who
have studied the patent," she says. "They're telling us that it's
likely that pollen from crops carrying the Terminator trait will infect the
fields of farmers who either reject or can't afford the technology. Their crop
won't be affected that season but when farmers reach into their bins to sow
seed the following season they could discover - too late - that some of their
seed is sterile. This could lead to very high yield losses. If the technology
is transmitted through recessive genes, we could see several years of
irregular harvests and a general - even dramatic - decline in food security
for the poorest farm communities."
Because of the worldwide condemnation of terminator seeds, Monsanto appears to
be verbally distancing itself from its own technology that it is in the process
of acquiring. Even without the threat of this technology Monsanto is
contributing significant to the destruction of health and environment around the
world. But if this technology is released by Monsanto, it could spell disaster
for hundreds of millions of people around the world. How anyone could invest in
such a company is difficult to imagine!
Other resources for Monsanto Terminator Technology information on the Internet:
Disclaimer
http://www.ethicalinvesting.com/monsanto/terminator.shtml
Terminator: Profiting By Spreading Sterility (RAFI
Web Page)