Brazil Set to Legalize Terminator Seeds
Brazil may be the first country to defy the 13 year UN
moratorium on the commercial sale of terminator seeds. This would be the “thin
edge of the wedge” to gradually collapse the ban on the engineered seeds. Terminator seeds are those engineered to
produce a crop but the seeds from the crop will not germinate or sprout if
planted. So if a farmer buys a GM seed that also has the terminator trait, he
cannot save seed and avoid buying seed from the corporation next planting.
That is bad enough but many of the crops that are GM spread
their pollen via insects, other animals and the wind spreading their traits to
non-GM fields. The spread of terminator traits would be disastrous to organic
and more traditional farmers, forcing them to purchase seed from corporations.
It would eventually drastically reduce the biodiversity of food crops as seed
houses sell what is commercially viable.
The Judicial Commission is meeting this week to review their
decision about Terminators. Whatever their decision, it amounts to an advisory
one and the Brazilian Government may choose to break the moratorium. This would
be the first small step in collapsing the 193 country agreement to keep these
dangerous seeds out of the food stocks.
“If the
Commission passes the bill this week,” says Centro Ecológico’s Maria José
Guazzelli, “the Congress could make it law after it reconvenes in February.
While most of Brazil is celebrating a Christmas birth, the seed multinationals
will be celebrating the death of the 10,000-year right of farmers to save
seeds.” GM Watch
A child of the terminator seed is the zombie seed. It is
modified to be able to germinate if it is treated by a specific chemical, one
that is produced by the gene tech corporation of course. Zombies are currently
popular in the entertainment business, but in my opinion that’s where they
belong.
Ref: Canada.com
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