The Prince of Wales has made a further impassioned warning
about the dangers of genetically modified crops.
In a front-page interview with the Daily Telegraph, the prince says the
development of GM crops could be "the biggest disaster environmentally of
all time".
Continuing his theme, Prince Charles takes aim at multinational firms whom he
suggests are conducting an experiment with nature which has gone "seriously
wrong".
According to the prince, who continues to advocate more traditional farming methods: "What we should be talking about is food security not
food production – that is what matters."
Comment: Sometimes the cruelest things happen under the disguise of good intentions. And of course people ruled by fear instead of reason, can't be expected to be reasonable. And if people have low expectation, well what do they expect?
It is sad the way people are stigmatized by big government gone wrong.
Alternatively state capitalism has not much to motivate people with accept guns, and possibly promise of miraculous GM carrots and potatoes.
The problem with private capitalism, so many people's income's are fixed though prices aren't. So rich get richer and poor get poorer.
And who knows how many people live with their name spelled wrong as a result of the shame bad government can bring.
I can't wait for technocracy to take over.
Name: anyacat
Comment: The symbol of fascism, in its original Italian incarnation under Benito Mussolini, and which gave fascism its name, was the fasces. This is an ancient Roman symbol of power carried by lictors in front of magistrates: a bundle of sticks, which included an axe indicating the power over life and death. The Germans, of course, adopted the swastika, a popular symbol in art before the regimental use by Nazi Germany. While there is little question that the right wing power structure in the United States has done some damage to the US Constitution, it is always dangerous to mix political thought with an economic system, which, in the US, is capitalism. Some argue that the economic freedom of competitive capitalism is a requisite of political freedom. Some critics of capitalism consider economic regulation necessary to reduce corruption, negligence, and the many other problems caused by free markets. In 1970, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were guests of honor at a White House dinner given by President Richard Nixon in repayment for their having entertained Nixon in Paris during the mid-1960s when his political fortunes were low.
Name: Emily Elizabeth Windsor-Cragg
Comment: Fascism is over-control over governments by corporations that claim the same rights as individual human beings. ... The laws that govern corporations were altered in the 1870s to favor corporate greed over idividual rights; and about the same time, "At-Will employment" guaranteed there would never again be freedom of speech in the workplace: every worker had to cowtow to their corporate bosses. ... I believe until legislation is drawn to turn corporations into cooperatives that are accountable for the results, effects and outcomes they actually produce on their workers and customers, Fascism (the domination of our Governments by corporate influence-peddling, bribery and renegade ethics) will continue unabated. It is not appropriate for commercial enterprises to dominate over the welfare of our planet and peoples. GM seeds and cloned animals are just the tip of the Fascist iceberg. I don't know if you are aware that the primary metaphor for Fascism is a bundle of sticks bound together by a cord and hatchet, a fitting icon for top-down over-control. The late Duke of Windsor was a Libertarian -- not a Fascist. He admired Goldwater, not Nixon.
EEWC
Name: exploora
Comment: How can someone get this passionate about organic carrots and seem to be almost cold toward who many would have called the most beautiful woman in the world, HRH Princess Di.
If the POW wanted to be really controversial he would say due to the possible risk of war ruining our food supply lets turn all of our weapons into plough shares.
Now wouldn't that take courage.
Name: exploora
Comment: There are risks and benefits. Instead of feeding into the fear we need a balanced approach.
I think GM food should be labeled.
There are lots of places now, where crops are growing more successfully as they are "bred" to adapt, in similar ways that animals have been bred too.
I think it is possible that meat is more dangerous to eat than GM crops, I think we can't deny the risk, but we shouldn't deny the benefits. There are some very good balanced articles on the subject.
I would think another contribution to world hunger is wasting food, that people cannot afford to buy. To discuss world hunger constructively, a person would also need to discuss the social breakdown war brings to very poor countries, who may have been much more developed than they are now, if they hadn't been occupied by what some would call "greedy" imperialists of the past.
And again such a discussion should balance the risk with the benefits, using references and evidence in the debate, like a scientist and a world class debater would do.
All we can do is look forward into the future for solutions, otherwise we will keep dangling carrots which are not suitable for display purposes in fancy supermarkets in front of poor people's noses, while hitting them with incredibly expensive weapons of destruction, while protecting ourselves for alleged weapons of destruction from our enemies who seemed to be very out gunned by us, which probably would make anyone rather angry.
Of course if we put a stop to overkilling of the underfed, we would need to find a way to share the food in order to feed everyone. Easier possibly to shoot them while wearing a funny hat.
Name: anyacat
Comment: The only people who benefit from genetically altered food are the biocompanies who make the stuff. One wonders why, if it is such a boon, genetically altered food has not eased world hunger. Genetically altered food is a polticial-economic-scientific mechanism whereby large corporations such as Novartis alter or disrupt the genetic blueprint of a living organism, and then sells the product for a profit. By altering the genetics of a plant (for example) one introduces into the food chain a host of new proteins, some of which may be toxic or which can cause allergic reactions. Environmentally, GA crops have resulted in "superweeds," that cause environmental destruction similar to what happened when kudzu was introduced in the Southern United States and zebra mussels in our waterways. Even organic crops are at risk because GA pollen can and has been blown into organic farms, thus contaminating the crops. GA has not resulted in a greater or more diverse food supply, but it has some chemical companies very wealthy.
Name: exploora
Comment: I would think there are three possibly bigger things effecting our climate negatively, war, cars and planes.
Of course agricultural techniques could improve,
To insinuate that the ordinary person does not understand why the rich, sheltered, and privilege don't want to talk about production, is insulting. They possibly might not want to talk about production because they might have to question what they actually produce or they may have to discuss how production of food effects price, and of course price is what gives us mere mortals access to food.
To think dialogue relating to food production is beyond the understanding of us mere mortals, is a toss up in my opinion between insulting and terrifying.
Oh and of course anti-terror is what we are fighting for, supposedly.
Name: exploora
Comment: I personally worry about the rights the companies can claim to own the copyright on the genetically modified seeds. That could give such multi-nationals almost God like power over seeds.
Food production does matter, that is why such power is important and worth fighting over.
The majority of people on this planet are poor.
People are starving to death everyday.
Many must feel great resentment toward what one could see as a spoiled, pampered little man, with a huge ego, who has no idea of what it is like to explain to their hungry child why there is no food for dinner, let alone why they don't have a dinner table like those living a sheltered and protected life in the gated community up yonder and who sometimes make a living prosecuting people who have to steal food to live.
"If you had spent your life in a warship you would not know about taste"
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's response to a snob who questioned her grandson Prince Andrew's taste due to the supermarket style design of his Sunninghill home
