Hi!
In response to a letter-to-the editor published in another Vermont on-line newspaper, I called the citizen about her concerns, and explained that I am only recently learning about her subject of GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS.
Pam Nickerson is involved with a group called Windham County Genetic Engineering Action Group, (802)257-0169 and I hope to meet them in a few weeks.
On the telephone, she tried to explain some of their many issues.
She discussed a Seed Labelling Law passed in Vermont and she stated that the RULES were never written so the law has no teeth.
I explainedd that I feel that any Law passed that gives a non-elected person the task of creating the RULES for the law
is un-Constitutional because then you have non-elected persons writing RULES that YOU will be held accountable for in courts of law and by administrative law judges.
At any rate, if the Law is just a vacant pit waiting for some un-elected official to fill it up with RULES, then nothing is actually being done to enforce seed labelling.
I also explained to her that because I am newly learning this hot political issue, and because there are so many different NAMES for the ISSUE,
that I will probably take some time to locate the bottomless empty pit law that was written because I don't know what word or phrase to look it up under, and she didn't know the number of the Law offhand.
GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS are referred to under different names
making it difficult or tedious to locate the Laws regarding them.
Sometimes GE Foods are discussed under "modern biotechnology",
"gene technology",
"gene modification",
transgenic/recombinant technology",
etc.
I think what Pam most wanted to tell Vermonters is that
(1) Nothing is Labelled, so you don't know which foods are altered;
(2) these products can be dangerous and cause health problems;
(3) Organic Crops can be contaminated and eventually Organic Crops may not exist because they may all be contaminated.
Pam is very concerned that Vermont school children are currently allegeldy being fed with federally subsidized school lunches which contain some genetically altered foods;
and their parents are not being warned and informed which is a violation of the fiduciary duties of the schools.
I asked her if she knows about any "kickbacks" where school budgets might be growing bigger and bigger because the budget people are buying more expensive products more often and may be getting "kickbacks" or "commissions".
She did not want to discuss that subject.
I told her I would need to do a lot more research on this HOT ISSUE.
Farmers who are concerned about contamination might want to look at this case cite:
It is listed in American Jurisprudence 2D under Tresspass, Second Edition, 2007 Cumulative Supplement, May 2007, Volume 75.
Continuing tresspasses
Cases
Causes of action in continuing tresspass and continuing nuissance arising from contamination of groundwater beneath site containing polychlorinated biphenyls and trichloroethylene, which were migrating away from site and creating plum of water contamination in surrounding properties, were not time barred under CLS CPLR Section 214-c(2);
recurring wrongs are not subject to any statute of limitations because they constantly accrue, giving rise to successive causes of action. Jensen v General Electric Co. (1992, 3d Dept) 182 AD2d 903, 581 NYS2d 917.
Organic farmers might be able to use the above case cite because it is a continuing nuisance to worry about your neighbor who is using Genetically Altered Seeds or crops which may contaminate your organic crops.
Maybe Vermont Organic Farmers should file a citizen petition to the Environmental Protection Agency or a request for a federal Injunction.
I certainly don't want my little home garden contaminated.
Apparently Genetic engineering involves taking DNA from one plant and inserting it into another plant.
But the part that scares me is that some companies are taking DNA from animals and inserting them into plants.
Worse yet, some companies are taking DNA from HUMAN BEINGS AND INSERTING THEM INTO ANIMALS AND PLANTS.
If you take a monkey and insert human DNA to increase the monkey's intelligence but not the monkey's appearance,
can you then take the intelligent monkey and force it to do SLAVE LABOR?
HOW MANY FACTORY JOBS WILL SOON BE DONE BY GENETICALLY ALTERED MONKEY SLAVES?
HOW MANY JOBS PICKING FRUIT WILL BE DONE IN THE FUTURE BY GENETICALLY ALTERED MONKEY SLAVES?
WHAT WILL BE THE DIVIDING LINE BETWEEN A HUMAN BEING AND
A GENETICALLY ALTERED ANIMAL-SLAVE,
AND WHEN WILL A GENETICALLY ALTERED ANIMAL-SLAVE WITH HUMAN LEVEL
INTELLIGENCE BE GIVEN HUMAN RIGHTS?
The Consumers' Association of Penang believes that Genetically Altered foods will be promoted at the expense of small family farms and will lead to more problems of landlessness and poverty as the growing of food comes increasingly under the monopoly of multinational mega-corporations.
Muslims are concerned about the religious permissible authority to eat unlabelled foods, particularly ones genetically engineered with PIG GENES or other animals that have not been treated or slaughtered by Islamic rites.
Hindus and Buddhists are concerned about eating foods engineered with animal genes that contain BEEF or HUMAN GENES because HUMAN GENES ARE NOT A VEGETARIAN DIET.
Pollen from Genetically Engineered Crops made with inserted DNA from animals and human beings can blow
around in the wind, be picked up by wildlife and insects,
and be passed to YOUR ORGANIC GARDEN.
Only a handful of giant corporations dominate the genetically engineered food market by GETTING PATENTS FOR THEIR NEW FOODS because they are not natural and GOD-made, because they are man-made by inserting animal and human genes into the plants to create new plants, the government is giving them patents for these new inventions.
I PERSONALLY THINK IT SHOULD BE OUTLAWED TO GIVE A PATENT TO ANY "INVENTION" THAT IS MADE IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITH ANY HUMAN DNA.
The huge corporations that hold these patents then are allowed by our own government to tell us that they are so much like GOD made food that they are "substantially equivalent" and therefore SAFE.
So, the number one argument is to prove that they are not safe.
The Consumers' Association of Penang shows us instances where these products are not safe, so why is the government here in the U.S.A. allowing the great big corporations to tell us that these genetically altered foods are "safe"?
The big companies who hold the patents for the new inventions that are supposed to be safe because they are "substantially the same" as GOD made plants are charging royalties to farmers for their use and they bind farmers to contracts.
It's all about money. That's the bottom line.
We used to have clean air to breathe for free.
We used to have clean water to drink right out of the streams for free.
We used to be able to grow a garden and count on some nice vegetables to add to our diet without worrying if we are cannibals.
Pam Nickerson is hoping more people will join their action group.
Here is one good website on the internet that covers some about this subject:
http://www.organicconsumers.org
I am looking for new issues to add to my 2008 campaign website,
and when I get more information on this subject I will add it.
http://crisericson.com
Remember, the most important issues are to prove that genetically modified foods are dangerous,
otherwise how can we stop the production of them;
and
the issue that foods and seeds are not labelled and parents are not warned and informed that Vermont school children are being fed federally subsidized lunches which allegedly include genetically altered foods which may include human DNA and violate their religious beliefs;
and the issue that organic crops can be contaminated by neighboring farms
growing GE seeds and plants.
The whole issue of making more intelligent monkeys by genetic engineering and turning them into slaves and putting human beings out of work just makes me want to vomit.
How did we get so far in civilization just to go back to the issues of slavery?
How did we get so far in civilization with environmental awareness just to spoil it all with genetically modified foods that can spread with pollen blown by wind and insects and wildlife and contaminate the entire STATE OF VERMONT?
i want to learn a lot more about this issue and I hope you do, too.
I thought VERMONT was the GARDEN OF EDEN when I was a child and visited relatives here in the summer, and when I went to Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont as a teenager.
Where is my garden of eden now?
http://www.iburlington.com/article.php?story=20070822230117643