Shunning Sugar From GMO Sugar Beets?
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 03. 4.08
These Sugar City, Colo. sugar beet workers likely didn't worry about glyphosate illness.
The Interfaith Center For Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) wants a cross-section of mega-corporations including PepsiCo, McDonald's and Hershey's to shun the spring 2008 crop of genetically engineered sugar beets. ICCR says the US Environmental Protection Agency's recent decision to increase the "acceptable limit" by a factor of 5,000 of the herbicide glyphosate allowed to be sprayed on the crop of glyphosate-resistant genetically modified food crop is...well, irresponsible. Problems documented in glyphosate-heavy spraying areas include frog mutations and difficulty for plant roots to "fix" nitrogen, as well as glyphosate-resistant weeds. In California, glyphosate is the third most common cause of pesticide illness in farm workers.
GMO sugar beet seeds, supplied by Monsanto, have an inserted gene to make the plant resistant to the company's Roundup herbicide, based on glyphosate. Monsanto already once postponed intro of the sugar beet, ready since 2004, when candy makers and other companies fretted that consumers would reject products with sugar from the beets. ICCR isn't the only group against the introduction of the modified beets - the Sierra Club and the Center for Food Safety have filed a suit in San Francisco alleging that the GMO beets will eventually spread genetic material to organic beet seed crops. Via ::Infoshop News and ICCR web site
Monsanto is realy the corporate incarnation of the the devil himself.
then the problem is the lobbyist being able to pass whatever law the corporation want.
I agree with smog that Monsanto Corp is satin in corporation form, but the companies listed are not much better, and I highly doubt they'll care enough to lose profits and gain trouble over GM beets.
Treehugger should brainstorm all the things we can do to bring those jerks down, if you ask me. All of them.