Some good news on GM rice

[Robbien]

the best part of the article

Greg Massa, the leader of the group and a longtime opponent of genetic engineering in rice, seemed almost dazed after Wednesday's meeting.

"I'm still shocked," said Massa, who also holds a seat on the Rice Commission board. "I went from fighting in this underdog position for the last 3 1/2 years to being in the majority literally overnight."

The article

Rice board spurns biotech


The California Rice Commission on Wednesday called for a moratorium on experimental plantings of genetically modified rice in the state, saying federal controls meant to keep such varieties from contaminating commercial rice are inadequate.


. . .

The decision by the 40-member group meeting in Colusa was driven largely by concerns that the contamination of the state's rice supplies with even a tiny amount of genetically engineered material could devastate sales to touchy export markets such as Japan and South Korea. The commission represents the state's roughly 1,000 rice farmers and processors.

more good stuff

The Rice Commission's stance could put it in a strange-bedfellows situation this year as the Legislature debates a bill that would make firms that produce genetically modified seeds liable for damages if their product contaminates a field.

The state Farm Bureau opposes the bill. But the Rice Commission may find itself fighting for it alongside activist groups such as the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Food Safety.

"If the mainstream is against these things, then maybe we aren't mainstream," said rice grower Don Bransford.

http://www.truthabouttrade.org/article.asp?id=7238

[bananas]

1. Great news! Thanks! nt

[Bluestar]

2. Kicky!

[Recursion]

3. lol "touchy"

That's awesome. Populations with the good sense not to simply shove Monsanto and ADM's experiments down their throats are "touchy"

[nosmokes]

4. K&R

great news!

and i am so sick of people like this bint:Martina Newell-McGloughlin, who directs the Biotechnology Research and Education Program for the University of California system, had a mixed reaction.

"Of course any group wants to protect its market," she said. "But I think this is *fear rather than rational thought*."


why, because we are opposed to an unproven and essentially untested technology that has potential for such far reaching ramifications and implications as the pollution of our basic food supply and the degradation of the environment on a much greater scale than is happening already when there are proven methods that heal and nurture the planet and don't allow corporations to patent life forms and force indentured servitude upon farmers and food producers with appropriate technology, why are we portrayed as ludddites and called fearful when it's simply a matter of priorities? i'd just as soon not have the food on my plate have the genes from something else in it, and i'd rather it not be seasoned w/ a shitload of poisonsand synthetic fertilizers and additives, thank-you very much. now if that makes me a fearful luddite in your eyes, then you need to see an optometrist.

[Robbien]

5. Great rant

Hate how those global free traders are trying to present as crazy the people who do not want "funny" produce.

[soothsayer]

6. death to monsatan!