Monsanto*FDA*USDA***Menage a trois

[Matt J]

I would like to add that Lucifer Sam is doing a very good job of playing devils advocate.

 

[Alicia Leonard]

Seems Monsanto is getting the eyeball from the Justice Department now.

The price increases have not only irritated many farmers, they have caught the attention of the Obama administration. The Justice Department began an antitrust investigation of the seed industry last year, with an apparent focus on Monsanto, which controls much of the market for the expensive bioengineered traits that make crops resistant to insect pests and herbicides.
The investigation is just one facet of a push by the Obama administration to take a closer look at competition — or the lack thereof — in agriculture, from the dairy industry to livestock to commodity crops, like corn and soybeans.



Rapid Rise in Seed Prices Draws U.S. Scrutiny - NYTimes.com

 

[LuciferSam]

I would like to add that Lucifer Sam is doing a very good job of playing devils advocate.

As long as people keep using birther, deather, truther type scare tactics.

 

[LuciferSam]

Seems Monsanto is getting the eyeball from the Justice Department now.

The price increases have not only irritated many farmers, they have caught the attention of the Obama administration. The Justice Department began an antitrust investigation of the seed industry last year, with an apparent focus on Monsanto, which controls much of the market for the expensive bioengineered traits that make crops resistant to insect pests and herbicides.
The investigation is just one facet of a push by the Obama administration to take a closer look at competition ? or the lack thereof ? in agriculture, from the dairy industry to livestock to commodity crops, like corn and soybeans.

Rapid Rise in Seed Prices Draws U.S. Scrutiny - NYTimes.com

This is an area where I think we can agree on something. There needs to be a different set of intellectual property laws for products that become part of your environment and make copies of themselves. The good news is that it's not just the little guy against Monsanto, the big boys are getting into the act too. There is no doubt that reform is needed in the industry. Some people's idea of reform would be zero-tolerance for the technology. That's where I would disagree.

 

[Rita]

Seems Monsanto is getting the eyeball from the Justice Department now.

The price increases have not only irritated many farmers, they have caught the attention of the Obama administration. The Justice Department began an antitrust investigation of the seed industry last year, with an apparent focus on Monsanto, which controls much of the market for the expensive bioengineered traits that make crops resistant to insect pests and herbicides.
The investigation is just one facet of a push by the Obama administration to take a closer look at competition ? or the lack thereof ? in agriculture, from the dairy industry to livestock to commodity crops, like corn and soybeans.



Rapid Rise in Seed Prices Draws U.S. Scrutiny - NYTimes.com

.
Have any of you come across an analysis of whether or not the lower pesticide/herbicide cost offsets the higher seed price (of GM seeds)?
Since Roundup and some other chemicals have been used long enough now that some weeds have become resistant to them, what can farmers use?
Even using the naturally occurring Bt bacteria through the technology of creating Bt corn (which can defend itself against corn borers) we now have the problem of insect resistance.

Seems we may have made our own bed here and are now laying in it.



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[30A Skunkape]

Thanks for nothing, Gregor!

 

[LuciferSam]

Thanks for nothing, Gregor!

May he rest in peas.

 

[Miss Critter]

May he rest in peas.

Good one, LS.

I can't speak for everyone else, of course, but my concern is less that they're genetically modified and more how they're genetically modified. I don't want (largely untested) foreign chemicals inserted into the DNA of the natural living organisms that this natural living organism was designed to consume. The universe does have a natural order, and that is a violation of it, which always results in a price being paid.

 

[LuciferSam]

Good one, LS.

I can't speak for everyone else, of course, but my concern is less that they're genetically modified and more how they're genetically modified. I don't want (largely untested) foreign chemicals inserted into the DNA of the natural living organisms that this natural living organism was designed to consume. The universe does have a natural order, and that is a violation of it, which always results in a price being paid.

I'm not a creationist, so I can't go along with what you're saying about design and order.

 

[Matt J]

Good one, LS.

I can't speak for everyone else, of course, but my concern is less that they're genetically modified and more how they're genetically modified. I don't want (largely untested) foreign chemicals inserted into the DNA of the natural living organisms that this natural living organism was designed to consume. The universe does have a natural order, and that is a violation of it, which always results in a price being paid.

I'm not a creationist, so I can't go along with what you're saying about design and order.

Okay, for you LS.

We evolved to eat things that are susceptible to pest and vermin not altered things that are resistant to everything.