More of a Hot Topic campaign IMO.

Lloyd

"American appeals court has prevented Monsanto from suing farmers that might inadvertently grow Monsanto laced crops."

This is incorrect. The appeals court actually ruled on the lawsuit appeal that Monsanto doesn't has a history of going after these farmers (sued by Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association) and the courts would not get involved...upholding the pre-appeal ruling that initially dismissed the case of having no ground. This was a "clarification of powers" type lawsuit anyway...meaning there was no direct issues being addressed to begin with...just fleshing out powers Monsanto might have in case something like this would happen.

The only thing that happened was a ruling/statement rather than a flat dismissal...though the effect and end-point is practically the same as a dismissal.

The only real effect of the ruling sets up a precedence that Monstanto, in the future, won't do something they've never done anyway.

If these farmers choose to deliberately exclude, save, and cultivate GMO intellectual property (which would be kind of insane for organic farmers) they will find themselves in court really quickly.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Sun, Jun 16, 13 at 17:55

I have a feeling I don't think like you do, beeman.

Since the active ingredient in RoundUp - glyphosate - is no longer under patent to Monsanto, the point is rather moot. There are dozens of manufacturers selling RoundUp look-alikes under as many different brand names. It is all the same stuff.

Regardless of one's personal feelings about the product, RoundUp/glyphosate remains one of the most effective herbicides developed and no amount of petitioning or bellyaching is going to remove it from the marketplace until a lot more evidence is complied as to its real, documented (as opposed to alledged) effect on human health and the environment.

"Since the active ingredient in RoundUp - glyphosate - is no longer under patent to Monsanto, the point is rather moot."

Bad activism never stops some activists.

The anti-GMO activist movement is lead by some of the most horrible leaders of any anti-____ movement around.

They commonly find things out too late...things that can be learned by anyone reading press releases, regulatory filings, or even trade magazines. Most recently the whole 2,4-D GMO crop development pipeline...which took nearly 2 years for them to find out even existed in the development pipeline.

Then...many of them choose to attack the issue with "2,4-D is Agent Orange"...which is akin to calling H2O a horrible ingredient in beverages because it's a huge component in sodas. Tell a farmer (or regulator, or corporation, or government) that 2,4-D = Agent Orange and you've already lost whatever point you're trying to get across.

Aside from cut/dry issues like GMO labeling...the entire anti-GMO movement needs real leaders who are feeding their base legit ammo to fight with...rather than mistruths, information based on a fundamental lack of knowledge, fringe studies to latch onto, emotional "logic" that lacks basis, etc.

You'd almost swear some of this was a planted corporate strategy to disrupt the movement...but they're doing it to themselves.

...wait until the current movement leaders find out about GMO citrus development to tolerate/fight pests/disease...which is a movement that's already over 3 years old and being developed by 2 major US college programs in Texas and Florida (not counting the modified Hamlin Orange that Cornell has developed and is already in trial fields). Given trends, I give it another year or 2 before they find out it even exists.

A leader (or leaders) need to emerge in the anti-GMO movement that actually has their fingers on the pulse of the industry...which really isn't that hard to do given the amount of paper/information trail being left by all those involved.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Sun, Jun 16, 13 at 20:07

There are many examples of past products and practices that later were found via well structured investigation and study to have been harmful to people, animals and the environment at large. When that happens those products are removed and practices changed. Those who erred in their judgment tend to be held responsible and accountable.

Of the many products/practices that have been found to pose unacceptable risks of harm, glyphosate is today NOT one of them.

Many activist issues and movements are grounded upon valid concerns. However, those concerns often morph into emotionally driven bias when those concerned, driven by emotion, do not understand the facts, which are often scientific or technical, and incomprehensible or confusing to them. They end up without valid factual support for their arguments because frequently those who do take the time and make the effort to grasp the facts end up on the opposite side of the issue. All too often the emotional side absent credible factual information then argues with very distorted versions of facts. Sometimes those arguments arise simply out of ignorance, other times they are advanced with willful intent to deceive and sway opinion. It then becomes a battle between emotionally driven concern and factual understanding. In such raging disagreements I have yet to see facts win over emotion. Minds made up will not be enlightened or deterred by facts.

This post was edited by TXEB on Mon, Jun 17, 13 at 11:40

It's like I tell people TX, you don't win hearts and minds with logic and reason. For that you need fear and guilt.

Oh, for the luva...

Roundup is NOT a "super-weed creating, gene destroying, insidious killer" - It is merely a biological process inhibitor. Roundup binds itself to an enzyme used by plants to build amino acids - When the amino acids cannot form, the plant ceases to grow, in effect dying. (The enzyme is not utilized by humans, or most other animals)

There have been innumerable scientific studies that have shown that Roundup is NOT an overly toxic chemical - the LD50 of COFFEE is lower than that of Roundup...

For more information, here's a little more about roundup

Do yourself a favor and research the SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN FACTS before you go running around like a chicken with your head cut off...

Have a good evening, and as always, look both ways before crossing the street. Thank You.

Well stated by all (ok most) now if people were honest and took this same approach to the rest of Hot Topics progress would be made and all would benefit from TRUTH.

Have a great day

Normal people tend to stay off the hot topics....