I have multiple allergies to chemicals, including pesticides, so I follow certain groups which campaign against them.  This way I get to learn about some things which really bother me, concerning the larger picture.

I'm very much against GM foods for reasons I've posted on other threads (which as usual I can't now find!). I'm not just against them for ecological reasons, I'm also very against them politically - they are a vehicle for controlling the food supply, and in the hands of multinationals like Monsanto, who are coyrighting seed, this spells very bad news for the poor (which is most of us)

I was sent this link today and I think it's worth sharing, because imo people really do need to lobby their representatives on this topic no matter which country they live in. Please read it and circulate if these developments worry you

http://www.panna.org/blog/us-looks-monsanto-feed-world

I know some of you don't like reading negative stuff here, but -  "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance"

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance"

I'm with you there.

ETA:

Oh em gee - with Monsanto and ADM, we've got nothing to worry about ... *rolling eyes sarcastically*

Sigh.

and pretty soon we wont be able to grow our own food?

They already passed stuff to regulate your home garden here but no one was paying attention.

@hrae as I understand it, that's not *precisely* how the bill was worded, but I don't trust that it will be interpreted and enforced as I understand it.

Which is a very gemini way of saying "I'm not sure."

They already passed stuff to regulate your home garden here but no one was paying attention.

I've known about a bill like that, since 2008. :/ Some people insisted it was only about safety regulations, but I don't like the idea of anyone being able to control how many vegerables or berries I grow in my garden. 

More info on how Monsanto is trying to avoid any legal liability for any future consequences of GM foods

http://www.truth-out.org/monsanto-shifts-all-liability-farmers68009

Organic farmers are sueing Monsanto, and good luck to them:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alison-rose-levy/monsanto-lawsuit_b_842336.html?ref=fb&src=sp#sb=115649,b=facebook

From the article, quote from Mark Kastel of Cornucopia: 

"Although saving seeds from one year to the next is a farming tradition as old as agriculture, due to Monsanto's aggressive legal action, "Farmers are being intimidated into not saving seed for fear that they will be doggedly pursued through the court system and potentially bankrupted," detailed Kastel.

"We must protect our world by protecting our most precious, sacred resource of seed sovereignty. People must have the right to the resources of the earth for our sustenance," said Rose Marie Burroughs of plaintiff California Cloverleaf Farms.

"The building blocks of life are sacred and should be in the public domain. The private profit motive corrupts pure science and increasingly precludes democratic participation," claimed Jill Davies, Director of plaintiff Sustainable Living Systems.

"Monsanto, and the biotechnology industry, have made great investments in our executive and legislative branches through campaign contributions and powerful lobbyists in Washington," Kastel points out. "We need the court system to offset this power and protect individual farmers from corporate tyranny."

It's imperative this action succeeds, and not just for America. Monsanto seeds are STERILE. That means you have to keep going back to them to buy more, if there is no alternative. Their patents have to be broken - and worldwide.

I get updates on all this via Pesticide Posse on Facebook - it's well worth following

Sorry to bang on - Ceres in Mercury compels me to try to protect the world's food supply which is under threat from numerous quarters.

North Americans really need to take heed of this stuff, imo, and lobby lobby lobby...  Here's Willow's latest piece for 13th April. Willow is very well-informed on all this stuff - and it's important!What she is telling us is truly chilling, and only a massive public outcry will stop it:

http://willowsweb.blogspot.com/2011/04/ceres-in-pisces-gm-alfalfa-and.html

Quote from the piece:  "At the time of Neptune's ingress [into Pisces], it was conjunct masculine 'wounded healer' Chiron and feminine 'Goddess of agriculture and fertility of the Earth' Ceres. This conjunction is still in effect and colours Neptune's entire 15-year transit of Pisces. Understatement of the astrological age: there's a whole lot of psychic healing and healing of the human spirit required on this planet at the tail-end of the Piscean era.

The Neptune-Chiron-Ceres conjunction involves complex symbolism, but in basic terms, this combination of energies shows us where we're starving collectively - spiritually and physically - so we can work on bucking the trend and making our way back to right principles and the healing they bring"

My Libra Ceres conjunct Libra Pluto and Scorpio Jupiter.  This makes me very angry what govs are trying to do to us.  I am going to see if Ireland are doing the same thing here.  Thanks for the info Blessed Place.  

More disturbing news on the US food supply front - though this piece primarily impacts the water supply, due all the increasing run-off of poisons into rivers and other water sources. Can you imagine the amount of herbicide they put on all those golf courses....

http://motherjones.com/environment/2011/07/usda-deregulate-roundup-gmo-tom-philpott

From the article:

"Long story short, it means that the USDA theoretically regulates new GMO crops the same way it would regulate, say, a backyard gardener's new crossbred squash variety. Which is to say, it really doesn't. But that's absurd. GM crops pose different environmental threats than their nonmodified counterparts. The most famous example involves the rapid rise of Roundup Ready corn, soy, and cotton, which were introduced in the mid-late 1990s and now blanket tens of millions of acres of US farmland. Spraying all of that acreage every year with a single herbicide has given rise to a plague of Roundup-resistant "superweeds," forcing farmers to apply more and more Roundup and also resort to other, far-more-toxic products. Crops that aren't engineered to withstand an herbicide could never have created such a vexation."

Today there is a nationwide protest in the USA to bring attention to the manner in which so much of your food supply is now controlled by two or three vast conglomerates, notably Monsanto.

If you want a healthy future for your children and grandchildren you'd be well advised to get behind this movement, whatever your political stance and convictions

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/willie-nelson/occupy-food_b_1299401.html

I'm adding this to my main thread as I want to keep as much info as poss on this topic in one place!

Yours, Ceres / Merc Conjunct ;)

And here's another link - kudos to those who are trying to roll back this tidal wave....

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/26/fresh-video-documentary.aspx?np=true

Tbis guy has now written a book on the topic, and speaks about it here:  

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theorganicview/2012/04/04/f-william-engdahl-gmos-eugenics-is-there-a-connection

The quote from Henry Kissenger is exactly what I keep banging on about... This has been going on for a long time now and it's accelerating.

BP you may find the Monsanto vs. Schmeiser case of interest:

http://www.percyschmeiser.com/

BP, I want to thank you for all the work and effort you've put into this and other threads about the manipulation of the world's food supply.  I know that I have received great benefits from your efforts and my knowledge about this critical matter has expanded each time you've posted.

I have been following this and other food-related issues for many years.  I'm also very concerned about the 'energy calories' I am consuming every time I buy/eat foods (like tropical fruits, for example) that either do not originate in my locale or are out of season.  The amount of nonrewnable energy resources that are used to get that food to my local grocery store is unbelievable and unsustainable, IMHO.  Barbara Kingsolver's book, 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle' has some good information on this topic.

Thanks again, BP.  We are so lucky to have you here.

Peppermint, you're very welcome. My Merc/Ceres seems unable to leave this topic alone! It's good to know I'm not 'talking into a fan' haha

Kashmiri, thanks for the link: that was a fascinating standoff and I'm glad Schmeiser (mostly) won. Gaia only knows what terrrible stress he and his wife went through for all those years...  I've been sued, in a very small way, and I can't imagine what a mega-lawsuit like that would do to one's health. They so deserve the thanks of every decent, thinking person on the planet.

I'm sorry that Monsanto wasn't totally crushed by the Supreme Court judgement. This guy's seed which he developed over 40 yrs is now lost to posterity. It's only - the way things are going - a matter of time before Monsanto win; they've bought most Third World farmers already. When they own the DNA copyright to all grain seed on the N American continent, what then?nd make no mistake: that IS their aim

Those who have helped even partially to win this battle "... believe in the rights of farmers to save and reuse their own seed...a practice that Percy followed for 55 years"

This is what humans have done for thousands of years. And now we are allowing one company, or a handful of companies, a total monopoly of the provision of seed. It's worse than a tragedy, it's suicidal.

BP

I was just going to say something similar.  I appreciate you keeping this topic, in particular, in our minds.

Mars/Venus in Cancer say thank you!

I agree! It is like collective suicide. :(