Seeds of Discontent

Seeds! Yep, seeds. Today's topic

Huh? You ask me, what's the deal with seeds.

Well, here's the deal and it is a raw deal for farmers and those of us building home gardens. Or, for that matter, all of us unless you're on a meat only diet.

Congress is about to sneak through, under the cloak of modernization of food safety, HR 875 which is as draconian a bill attacking biodiversity as one could conjure up. Imagine being sent to prison for growing from "heirloom seeds" a few rows of sweet corn.

The bill was introduced by Congress Woman, Rosa DeLauro, whose husband works for Monsanto and is designed to define only their, and other agribusiness, "genetically modified" seeds as safe. This prevents farmers and home gardeners from growing seeds for next year's crop, among other things. The seeds are "engineered" so that they can not be used as seed stock. Quite sterile!

You want seeds? You're going to have to buy them from Monsanto or some other monolithic agribusiness corporation. Buy heirloom seeds (yeah, for the kind of seeds grandpa used to grow those great old roasting ears you remember from your youth) and you could be sent to prison.

Aside from the fact that the genetically modified seeds are supposedly more disease and insect resistant, they do not produce crops that are as tasty as grandpa's. And doesn't it rankle you just a tad that the feds could send you to jail for growing what you wish to grow on your own land. Already there are severe penalties if your crop from heirloom seeds (contaminates) pollinates a neighbor's field of "approved safe" genetically modified corn, or soy beans, or...well now you can fill in the blanks.

Additionally, as written, the bill is vague, leaving open the potential of a "seed czar" in the federal bureaucracy with the power to create new regulations and definitions to insure that Monsanto and other huge agribusiness corporations holds, under penalty---including prison, onto the seed franchise in America.

To learn more and to take action against HR 875 go to:

Stop HR 875 Action Page