Experimentation has been under way with GM sugar As for GM sugar cane, Monsanto expects to have a
beets and sugar cane for more than a decade. While sugar cane has a
complex genetic make-up that makes genetic modification difficult, work
with GM sugar beet is simpler and has advanced much further. In 2008,
the first commercial GM sugar beets, a variety genetically modified by
Monsanto and the German seed breeder KWS for resistance to glyphosate
(i.e. Roundup Ready), were introduced in the US, and later in Canada.
Already, all the major sugar beet seed companies in North America are
selling Roundup Ready sugar beet varieties, and some industry insiders
predict that nearly 100 per cent of the US crop will be Roundup Ready
in 2009, unless the campaigns against GM sugar beets can reverse things. In the EU, by far the biggest market for sugar beet seed,
GM sugar beets have not been approved for commercial introduction, even
though the Roundup Ready beets have been approved for use as food and
feed.
Roundup Ready/Bt variety on the market by 2015, and there are other big
biotech companies with sugar cane in their sights.
What's wrong with GM practices by multi-national corporations?
Genetic engineering, by itself, could be a harmless procedure. When you talk of trees, where it takes years, decades even, to produce results, genetic engineering only enhances what nature will eventually do by itself.
The problem in genetic modifications are the other reasons why the changes are being made.
For example, large multi-national seed corporations have a vested interest in commoditizing seeds to further increase their profits. Monsanto, for example are producing seeds that has been modified to resist the effects of glyphosate, among others - a chemical for controlling weeds. In effect, instead of applying chemicals directly to weeds, they are now making it possible for large scale application of glyphosate (which will reduce expenses) since the seeds has been made to resist the chemical.
What does it mean for your health?
If you relish the thought of ingesting food that's been bathed in chemicals meant to kill plants (Yes, the very same thing you might be eating now), then I would assume that you will find this article ridiculous. However, I don't.
These modifications for chemical resistance, and the down-stream effect of the chemicals to consumers remain largely undocumented or suppressed from the main-stream media, and many governments have been duped into perpetuating the myth that all genetic modifications are safe.
Another problem of GM seeds is that their proliferation is un-controllable. A farm that introduces GM seeds into their fields, will slowly "infect" the surrounding farms, surriptiously brought by natural elements.
The collapse of honey bee hives in the US and Europe is now being linked to the introduction of un-natural modifications of many plant genes, without forethought of their long-term effect in the ecology.
To know more, read more from here.
