What is needed is a situation where something like DDT just can't be sold
(of course it still is, but not in the U.S. - although it can still manufactured
there), or like cigarettes, which can't advertise on TV. (They can in Mexico,
but only with a "can cause cancer" health disclaimer which does not impede
enough sales from occurring to fund heavy use of TV ads. During the course
of the past year, Pall Mall mounted a heavy TV sales campaign in Mexico -
it hadn't been marketed here before).
What is needed for things to get to this point for GMO's? A lot more than has
happened or is likely to happen soon. On the other hand, the chances are
excellent for providing for alternative labeling systems - for allowing for labels
that proclaim that the products inside are free from GMO's (or something else),
and MAYBE products containing GMO's can be legally required to proclaim the
presence of GMO's on their labels - but it getting this involves a tooth and nail
fight against vested interests with deep pockets, who everything to gain and
nothing to lose (except their souls and the future of the grandchildren) by
preventing that, using any means available.
It will take a lot of organizing and diffusion of information and this will all
have to be paid for. It will be, though those funds would be better spent on
research for alternative technologies that are more environmentally and
humanity friendly - and on product development and distribution of products
that while less easy to exploit (control), contribute more to the common good
and are truer to their biological origins.
DH
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 8/05/99 at 7:22 AM Dan Hook wrote:
>>Roberto wrote:
>>I do hope that non-GMOs become the clear default in the
>>socio-political system, but it will happen only with strong public
>>pressure, which has emerged in the UK but not yet, it seems, in the
>>US.
>>
>>Roberto Verzola
>>
>I have been reading the GMO/European thread with interest for a while. I
>have wondered: Did/do the Europeans have a somewhat easier time showing
>Monsanto etc. the door because they are a foreign company, not one of the
>good old Euopean boys you might say. The American public has it a bit more
>difficult because Monsanto is one of the good old US business boys. And
>getting GMO labeled will meet alot of resistance from the powers that be.
>Also wondering it appears that Europe is going to be GMO free, does that not
>mean that Monsanto etc. will fight even harder to get Americans to eat it?
>Of course if the farmers and grain elevators find separation more difficult
>, some for Europe, different for US, they might just give up and go back to
>regular seeds. That actually is another question are these GMO seeds really
>easier to grow? Thank-you saneters for your info. Beth
>
>
>
>To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
>"unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command
>"unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest".
>To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
>"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
>
>All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
>http://www.sare.org/htdocs/hypermail
Douglas M. Hinds
Centro para el Desarrollo Comunitario y Rural, A.C. (CeDeCoR)
(Center for Community and Rural Development)
Petronilo Lopez No. 73
Cd. Guzman, Jalisco 49000 MEXICO
e-mail: dmhinds@acnet.net, cedecor@acnet.net, cedecor@ipnet.com.mx
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
http://www.sare.org/htdocs/hypermail