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

[Kerry Dawborn]

Here's the letter again - the letters editor told me to crop it. Might 
be of interest to those of you who write letters as I sometimes do, and 
want to try to improve chances of getting them published. Brevity is 
clearly important!

So, we'll see if it goes in...

cheers,

Kerry

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: Academy endorses GM crops...not basic common sense...
Date: 	Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:33:26 +1100
From: 	Kerry Dawborn <kjdawborn at bigpond.com>
To: 	Letters <letters at theage.com.au>
References: 	<4766F178.60902 at bigpond.com> 
<64BB50EA250A4749BC9E62720020B74B0334EB43 at EXCHVIC2.ffx.jfh.com.au>



Thanks - here it is again, at 200 words.

Ten years of use of GM crops is not long enough, (Academy endorses GM crops, 18/12,) to prove them safe. 
Other environmental and health problems have taken much longer to be understood/accepted. Remember scurvy? 
Pesticide resistant crops allow increased use of chemicals (and profit to their manufacturers) at a time 
when smaller scale, diversified organic agriculture, shows that these noxious substances ARE NOT NECESSARY! 
The only people who truly benefit from GM, are the large agro-corporations and chemical manufacturers. 

That GM is important regarding climate change and food security is nonsense. The issue is with our food 
production, storage and distribution infrastructure which emphasises high fossil fuel input, high emissions, 
and monocultures (smorgasbord for pests!). Small-scale diversified producers are more able to manage pest 
control and other issues without chemicals. Diverse systems have greater economic and environmental resilience. 
An Age article (5/12 'Where to Water') asserted that home and small-scale producers, use water far more efficiently, 
than conventional farming systems. 

We have a right to produce and an environment that is uncontaminated with GM and toxic chemicals.
It seems that we undervalue good farmers, our health, environment and basic common sense, compared to the profit and power 
of large corporations.

Kerry Dawborn
4 Birch Rd
Wonga Park 3115
9726 5866



Letters wrote:
> hi Kerry,
> Thank you for your letter to The Age. Unfortunately, we are unable to
> publish letters of more than 200 words. Please resubmit a shorter
> version for consideration for publication.
> Regards,
> Carley Olley (on behalf of the letters ed)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kerry Dawborn [mailto:kjdawborn at bigpond.com] 
> Sent: Tuesday, 18 December 2007 9:00 AM
> To: Letters
> Subject: Academy endorses GM crops...not basic common sense...
>
> 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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