[Pil-pc-oceania] [Fwd: Academy endorses GM crops...not basic common sense...]

[Kerry Dawborn]

Hi Folks,

Just sent this letter off to The Age this morning - re Australian 
scientists endorsing GM crops. The article it refers to can be found at 
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/scientists-endorse-gm-crops/2007/12/17/1197740182396.html 
.
Not sure how articulate it is, but you might appreciate it anyway, or 
find something useful in it...

cheers,

Kerry


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Academy endorses GM crops...not basic common sense...
Date: 	Tue, 18 Dec 2007 09:00:24 +1100
From: 	Kerry Dawborn <kjdawborn at bigpond.com>
To: 	letters at theage.com.au



Ten years of use of GM foods and crops is not long enough, in spite of 
what some scientists are saying (Academy endorses GM crops, 18/12/07) to 
prove them safe on the environmental nor on the personal health fronts. 
How many other environmental and health problems are there out there, 
that have taken much longer to show themselves and then have knowledge 
of  their causes accepted by the mainstream? Remember scurvy? Plus there 
is the indisputable fact that the point of pesticide resistant crops is 
to allow increased use of these biocides - ('bio-cide', as in homi-cide 
- 'kill man'....does the term, 'kill life'' mean anything to anyone???), 
at a time when organic agriculture, particularly smaller-scale, highly 
diversified systems rather than monocultures, is demonstrating time and 
again all over the world that with intelligent land management and 
farming practices, rather than over emphasis on large-scale highly 
technology/machine/chemical dependent methods, these noxious chemicals 
ARE NOT NECESSARY! The only people GM foods offer anything to, are the 
large agricultural corporations and chemical manufacturers. The 
assertion that GM is important for combating climate change and ensuring 
food security is a nonsense. I have seen permaculture and other 
diversified systems that are amazingly productive and successful even 
when other enterprises struggle.
Perhaps the issue is more with our food production and distribution 
infrastructure which emphasises large supermarket chains buying produce 
grown with high fossil fuel input and therefore high carbon emissions, 
in monocultures (very convenient and easy dining to pests that eat those 
crops), with low biomass (higher biomass means more carbon sequestration 
in plants not in our atmosphere), transporting it large distances (more 
non-renewable resource use and carbon emissions), having stored it for 
sometimes long periods (more emissions, less freshness, more 
'justification'?? for GM produce that travels and stores well as against 
actually being tasty and nutritious). My neighbour has around 38 fruit 
trees and grows most of his own vegetables, plus olives and other 
things, on less than a quarter acre, which includes a house on about 
half of it. I have 23 fruit trees on a block the same size, with a 
house, grow some vegetables and keep chickens and ducks, and I barely 
use half of the space I have available. Small scale commercial farmers 
are more able to manage pest control and other issues without chemicals, 
simply because their operation size matches their ability to manage it 
efficiently without nasty inputs. An article in The Age recently 
(December 5th - 'Where to Water' - Katherine Kizilos) asserted that home 
gardeners like myself and small scale producers, use far less water, 
more efficiently, than most conventional farming systems. Moreover, I, 
and others who care about good health for ourselves and the environment, 
and are not convinced that GM is safe (even the scientists who endorse 
GM do not try to guarantee that it is safe) have a right to grow or have 
access to produce that has not been cross-contaminated with GM crops, in 
an environment that is not contaminated through water or wind drift or 
soil contamination or other means.
The real issue is that good farmers, good land husbandry, the 
environment and our health, are sorely undervalued in our society where 
the profit and power of large corporations take precedence and drown out 
dissenting voices and basic common sense.

Kerry Dawborn
4 Birch Rd
Wonga Park 3115
Victoria
9726 5866 (business and after hours)




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