I strongly agree that our genetic heritage needs protection and am amazed that it is treated in such an off hand and reckless way. It appears that not many people understand its importance.

However I object to industry funding. Since the 1990's the chemical companies have taken over the seed companies. Now Monsanto owns about 25% of commercial seed and it continues to grow. Other big seeds holders are Du Pont, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF and Dow.

In the US the concentration of seed into a few hands means farmers cannot get access to seeds the companies do not want to sell. Since these companies (especially Monsanto who owns 90% of GM seed) want to sell GM seed (royalties as well as the sale price and often the sale of herbicide associated with the GM seed too) non-GM seed is very restricted. A Department of Justice investigation is underway.

However the WA government recently announced selling 19% of Intergrain to Monsanto. http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201008/s2994531.htm Monsanto needs the germplasm of the WA breeder Intergrain or its GM traits are useless. There is also no guarantee the extravagant promises of GM will ever be fulfilled (see the last paragraph of this press release) http://www.intergrain.com/images/stories/100824_Press_release_InterGrain_-_Monsanto.pdf

Our seeds need saving but they need to be saved from corporate ownership and control too.

It seems that Australian farmers aren't learning the lessons from Canadian & Indian farmers' Organizations,if they just learned the truth about gmo's, they would rise up surely.

There is enough scientific evidence available that and how it is effecting the health of many populations already.