Use of biotech seed spreads

I am just a concerned citizen up in New England, who believes that we all have a right to live a healthy life by choice. That Monsanto is now buying up foreign seed manufacturing companies is not good, simply because it gives them the patent rights to a whole new seed germplasm but it also gives them immediate access to any nongenetically engineered seed that company has on hand.

This could have drastic impacts on the genetic diversity of that region's native seed crops, just as it is impacting the food crops here. There are virtually no nongenetically engineered sugar beet seeds available on the market today and a very, very limited quantity of cotton and soybean seed.

Please do not let this information just hide away but pass it on to any connections that you may have. Take a look at the agriculture changes going on in Africa right now with the introduction of genetically engineered crops. Watch for resistant weeds and soil degradation over time. Watch to see if the pesticides they use on the locust in Egypt actually works the first time or if they have to use much stronger ones because they are resistant. The cornborer problem in the Midwest of the U.S. may be minor compared to a resistant and very hungry locust!

Nature has a way of adapting very quickly.

Kathryn Cope

Kenduskeag, Maine