Designer foods

I remember reading sometime ago about Genetically Modified foods, beacuase Capitalism has really, really worked well for Western Governments there is pretty much nothing left to capitalise on anymore...Soooo why not genetically engineer food, water, seeds etc and that would be a patented product made by some company,(clearly in the Goverments pocket!!) ...thus giving ownership and rights of law to that company to charge for a basic commodity right such as Mineral Waters - pollute the natural reserves and charge for the man-made product.
The same goes for seeds and pollens for fruits etc.

Possibly true?

Yes, it has already happened. There are genetically engineered plants already. I don't know if they can be sold yet, but they have been made. And you can't genetically engineer water. Water is just H2O with some traces of other elements. It has no DNA to change.

Yes..sorry for that error on water, what I meant to say was brand it as purer, better, cleaner...the only alternative - marketing works!!

You might want to read this story:

Percy Schmeiser did not buy Monsanto's patented seed, nor did he obtain the seed illegally. Pollen from genetically engineered canola seeds blew onto his land from neighbouring farms. (Percy Schmeiser's neighbours and an estimated 40% of farmers in Western Canada grow GM canola).

Monsanto's GM canola genes invaded Schmeiser's farm without his consent. Shortly thereafter, Monsanto's "gene police" invaded his farm and took seed samples without his permission. Percy Schmeiser was a victim of genetic pollution from GM crops - but the court says he must now pay Monsanto $10,000 for licensing fees and up to $75,000 in profits from his 1998 crop. "It's like saying that Monsanto's technology is spreading a sexually transmitted disease but everyone else has to wear a condom," RAFI observed.

Farmer made to pay for GM contamination

I expect more cases like this to happen as more GM crops are created. Even those who don't want the crops will have to pay the people who own the patent to them.

Here's another story:

In Mississippi, soybean farmer Homan McFarling is being sued by Monsanto. As reported in the New York Times, the farmer bought genetically modified soybean seeds not because he was a big fan of GM but because effective herbicides needed to manage conventional seeds are, oddly, no longer commonly available.

But here's his big crime: like farmers from the dawn of time, McFarling saved his seeds from one season to replant the next. Caught red-handed by Monsanto, admittedly with the help of everything from helicopters to sophisticated surveillance techniques, the company offered to cut him a deal for infringing their patent. Pay US$135,000 ($220,000) and it would forget how he damaged its intellectual property.

Instead, McFarling decided to fight for the right to sustainably farm his property. He lost and Monsanto was awarded US$750,000 ($1.2 million).

www.dissidentvoice.org...



[Edited on 6-5-2004 by AceOfBase]

Originally posted by Valorian
Yes..sorry for that error on water, what I meant to say was brand it as purer, better, cleaner...the only alternative - marketing works!!

Ask Coca-Cola how well marketing water works... remember Desani? As I'm sure everyone knows, the product was ultimately pulled from the shelves.

I think there is a great deal of misinformation and ignorance around regarding GM - the "copyrighting" of seeds and animals being a prime example, since a comparable product will always be possible.

Or, to put it another way, I'm not really worried about someone creating a Coca-Cola-owned tomato plant, because I know there'll be a Pepsi-owned tomato plant available.