Genetically Modified Food anyone???

[debbie mannas]

This guy is evil incarnate.



story.news.yahoo.com/news...tech_dc_11



Bush Urges Europe Drop Resistance to Biotech Foods

Mon Jun 23, 8:37 PM ET



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) renewed his criticism of European nations on Monday for refusing to accept genetically modified foods and contended the ban was contributing to famine in Africa.



"For the sake of a continent threatened by famine, I urge the European governments to end their opposition to biotechnology. We should encourage the spread of safe, effective biotechnology to win the fight against global hunger," Bush told a biotechnology conference.



European countries are concerned about the safety of genetically modified foods. The EU also says it provides more aid to African countries than the United States and that it has done nothing to turn African countries away from biotechnology.



Reacting to Bush's comments, European Commission (news - web sites) spokesman Reijo Kemppinen said: "The fact is that we in Europe have chosen to do some things differently from the United States. As regards GMOs, we simply believe that it is better to be safe than sorry."



"This is a highly sensitive issue in all our member states. The European Commission respects that and so should the United States," Kemppinen said.



Last week, a final round of negotiations between the United States and the European Union (news - web sites) failed and the administration announced it would file a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization (news - web sites) to overturn Europe's ban on new biotech foods.



An initial WTO ruling in the case could come next spring.



"Acting on unfounded, unscientific fears, many European governments have blocked the import of all new biotech crops. Because of these artificial obstacles, many African nations avoid investing in biotechnology, worried that their products will be shut out of important European markets," Bush said.



U.S. corn farmers say they are losing about $300 million in sales to the European Union each year because of the five-year-old trade barrier on genetically modified foods.



The issue is also attracting new attention as agribusiness giant Monsanto Co. prepares to bring the first gene-altered wheat to commercial markets, possibly as early as next year.



The European Commission had tried to repeal a moratorium on biotech foods, with officials publicly fretting about ceding a burgeoning biotech industry to the United States. But with consumer sentiment in many European countries running high against biotech foods, it has failed so far.



The United States is the world leader in biotech crops, with gene-spliced varieties accounting for 75 percent of U.S. soybeans, 71 percent of cotton and 34 percent of corn.



American environmental groups, worried about bio-crops' long-term impact on human health and the environment, have demanded more inspections by the federal government.

[debbie mannas]

Do we get GM food in Asia?? I hope not. read on...



www.twincities.com/mld/pi...050263.htm



Culture of food may deal global commerce its first defeat

BY JEREMY RIFKIN

Commentator



In case you thought the Bush administration's rift with our European allies ended with the Iraq war, think again. Now the White House has set its sights on something far more personal and potentially explosive: the question of what kind of food Europeans should put on their tables.



In a recent speech, President Bush charged that the European Union's ban on genetically modified food was discouraging developing countries from growing genetically modified crops for export, thereby hurting their economies and resulting in increased hunger and poverty.



The U.S. government also launched a formal legal challenge at the World Trade Organization to force the European Union to accept genetically modified seeds and food in Europe. For most Europeans, genetically modified food is anathema. Although they are worried about the potential harmful environmental and health consequences that might flow from introducing GM food, they are equally concerned about the cultural consequences.



In Europe, food and culture are deeply entwined. Every region boasts its own culinary traditions and touts its local products, from balsamic vinegar in Modena, Italy, to fine French wine from Bordeaux. In a world of globalizing forces, increasingly controlled by corporate behemoths, impersonal governing bodies and bureaucratic regulatory regimes, the last vestige of cultural identity most Europeans feel they have some control over is their choice of food.



The White House has made a bad situation even worse by suggesting European opposition to genetically modified food is tantamount to imposing a death sentence for millions of starving people in the Third World.



Denying poor farmers in the developing countries a European market for GM food, the White House says, gives them no choice but to grow non-GM food and lose the many commercial advantages that go with growing GM crops.



To begin with, hunger in the Third World is a complex phenomenon that is not likely to be reversed by GM food crops. About 80 percent of the undernourished children in the developing world live in countries with food surpluses. The hunger problem has more to do with the way arable land is used. In many developing countries, more than one-third of the grain is being grown for livestock. The animals, in turn, will be eaten by the world's wealthiest consumers. Meanwhile, the poorest people are left with little land to grow food for their own families. And, even if land is available, it is often owned by global agribusiness interests.



Second, Bush talks about the great cost savings of planting GM crops. What he conveniently ignores is that GM seeds are far more expensive than conventional seeds and, because they are patented, farmers cannot save the new seeds at harvest for replanting because they belong to the biotech companies.



Third, the introduction of crops laced with genes that produce everything from herbicide tolerance to antibodies for genital herpes to drugs to treat cystic fibrosis and Alzheimer's disease raises serious environmental questions. And we don't know what happens to insects, birds and animals that ingest plant materials containing these substances. Then there is the potential for pollen containing exotic new gene traits mixing with non-GM food crops and native weeds, creating a new kind of bioengineered pollution.



And what about the human health implications? Last December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered the incineration of 500,000 bushels of soybeans that were to be used in products like ice cream and baby food. They had been mistakenly mixed in a silo containing corn genetically engineered to produce a vaccine against pig diarrhea. Until this vaccine has been tested on humans, there is no way to know if it is safe for human consumption.



U.S. strong-arming can't make Europeans eat genetically modified food. In the unfolding struggle between global commercial power and local cultural resistance, the genetically modified food fight might turn out to be the critical test case that forces us to rethink the very basis of the globalization process.



Rifkin is president of the Foundation on Economic Trends. He wrote this column for the Los Angeles Times.

[MIKE BURN]

Quote:

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Bush hits Europe on biotech crops

Urges Congress to approve Project BioShield



By Sean Loughlin

CNN Washington Bureau

Monday, June 23, 2003 Posted: 9:36 PM EDT (0136 GMT)



WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sharply critical of European opposition to genetically modified crops, President Bush on Monday hailed developments in the biotechnology field, saying they are helping the wars on terror and famine.



Bush assailed many European governments for "acting on unfounded, unscientific fears" and called on them to allow the import of new biotech crops. The opposition, Bush told a conference of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, is hindering investment in biotechnology, particularly in Africa.



"For the sake of a continent threatened by famine, I urge the European governments to end their opposition to biotechnology," the president said.







Bush also called on Congress to approve legislation for Project BioShield, a $6 billion, 10-year plan to speed research and development of vaccines against deadly biological agents, such as anthrax and ebola. Bush also wants the Food and Drug Administration to be given powers to make experimental drugs available for use in an emergency.

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He should better go see the new "HULK" movie.

[debbie mannas]

I dont know how much more emotional and "terror" blackmail he is going to SHAMELESSLY use to suit his greedy power hungry corporate grubbing agenda. Famine and terror indeed.



horrible, wicked wicked evil man.



arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. he makes me soooooooooo angry. to think that THIS, THIS MORON of an APE is running the world.



arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.

Edited by: debbie mannas at: 6/24/03 11:57 am

[LarreeMP3]

It's going to turn us into superhero mutants!



Life is like a...comic book!

[debbie mannas]

you are being deliberately perverse and you know it.

[AQUARIAN AGE]

Quote:

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arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. he makes me soooooooooo angry. to think that THIS, THIS MORON of an APE is running the world.

---

Hey, why bashing apes?

[LarreeMP3]

That's what all the women tell me!

[debbie mannas]

Quote:

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Hey, why bashing apes?

---

sorry, slip up there. Harmless animals dont deserve such insults.







Ummmm sub-human OK??



OK, lets see who comes up with the best sub-species for the )*%)#*)@#*$). Words fail me.

[AQUARIAN AGE]

No its not Ok.



Just call him brain-dead. Or "Bush" which for sure will get a different meaning in history........hmmm.....maybe brain-dead?

[debbie mannas]

brain-dead is an insult to those poor people who living on machines but really are brain-dead.



This person is EVIL EVIL EVIL. Him and his crooked cronies.



How about mephistopheles



or if you really think he's stupid (well, he's evil and stupid, a dangerous combination)... sh1t-for-brains???



boneheadbush?

[debbie mannas]

Course its untrue. the megalomaniac would drop dead if he told the truth.



story.news.yahoo.com/news...ch_eu_dc_3



EU Says Bush Accusations on Biotech Policy Untrue

2 hours, 48 minutes ago



By Robin Pomeroy



BRUSSELS (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) got it wrong when he said the European Union (news - web sites)'s rejection of genetically modified (GM) food had aggravated the risk of famine in Africa, an EU spokesman said on Tuesday.





Reuters Photo







"The suggestions made by the United States are simply not true," European Commission (news - web sites) spokesman Gerassimos Thomas told a daily news briefing, adding that the 15-nation EU handed out seven times more development aid than the United States.





The latest war of words in the long-running biotech dispute came on the eve of an EU-U.S. summit in Washington on Wednesday when the world's two biggest economies hope to mend diplomatic fences after falling out over Iraq (news - web sites).





"It is false that we are anti-biotechnology or anti-developing countries," Thomas said.





Bush told a biotechnology conference on Monday the EU should lift its restrictions on GM foods "for the sake of a continent threatened by famine."





Last year, some African countries rejected U.S. food aid as it contained GM grain which they feared could be used as seed which might threaten future exports to the EU which is setting tight restrictions on imports of GM food.





The EU has rejected U.S. calls to reassure developing countries that they should accept GM organisms which are routinely eaten by U.S. citizens but are practically banned in many EU countries.





The United States, Argentina and Canada, which grow 95 percent of the world gene-altered crops, have launched a trade suit against the EU's unofficial ban on most GM crops which has hampered GM exports to the bloc for the last five years.

[LarreeMP3]

I drive GM cars.



How about changing that abbreviation to GMF?

[AQUARIAN AGE]

Larree, I really wonder when you´ll have the balls to give the Statue of Liberty back to France!!!!

[NRKofOver]

Well, here's my take on this issue. I don't have a problem with all genetically modified foods, it's something that has been done for thousands of years, just not as technologically advanced as it is now. Sure, adding trout livers to corn doesn't make much sense, but using genetic engineering to bring out the best possible attributes of the corn itself, using corn genetics, doesn't bother me at all. It's something that humans have been doing for centuries through cross-breeding of different plants. I hope to see the day where twice as much corn can be grown in half the space twice as fast. But that being said, Dubya really has no right to wander the world telling any other nation what their policies should be, that's just arrogant.

Read all about ME!