GreenWatch

B. McPherson

B. McPherson Currently genetically modified alfalfa is not released in Canada, but is probably will be soon. The US approved it about this time last year with no restrictions. A farmer can plant Roundup Ready alfalfa next to an organic farmer and ignore the inevitable genetic pollution of the organically grown crop. Monsanto has developed a patented seed that will allow farmers to spray their fields with Roundup or glyphosate to kill weeds. As with other GM seeds, if the modified plants are found growing in a neighbouring field, the farmer with the intrusive plants is in trouble and all kinds of hurt comes down on him from the corporation owning the patents. A few GM plants in an organic farmer’s field are enough to disqualify him from using the organic label and consequently his crop losses mount as his crop loses value. Because farmers who do not qualify for the organic label, but eshew GM seeds cannot label their product as GMO free, people can only be sure that they...

B. McPherson The following video shows a soybean harvest in progress. The farm is said to be eight years old and encompasses 8 000 ha of soybean plantings. The United Nations in New York will honour Greenpeace activist Paulo Adario for his work in defending the Amazon Rain Forest. Adario has worked with Greenpeace since the 1990s in the Amazonas area uncovering illegal logging of the rain forest. Working with local tribespeople and the government he has helped protect about 1.6 million hectares from logging. Among his innovations was his original concept of maintaining buffer zones between industrial development and the forest. His work also resulted in the banning of trade in mahogany in 2003. "Following a campaign on illegal logging, which led to a moratorium in 2003 on the international trade in Mahogany, the impacts of Paulo’s work attracted death threats from forest criminals across the Amazon." Greenpeace The gains in protection to the Brazilian ...