Dear Safe:
You still have not provided evidence that Monsanto influenced the review mentioned above. Nor have you told me why you just can’t eat organic and avoid GM. Organic is and will continue to be non-GM produce, and admixture with GM can be avoided. There are only two GM foods currently proposed to be grown in Australia, for example. Just how much canola and cottonseed oil do you use? Why not just use olive oil if you are so concerned?

You have found a number of websites that take statements out of context, or have not mentioned the follow-up investigations that cleared up the issues. For example, as Rob W indicated, if you read all of Henry Miller’s article, you’d know that he believes that the US regulatory system is TOO strict. Miller accuses “big business” of encouraging strict regulation, which has the effect of blocking smaller companies and universities, which don’t habe the tens of million $ to do all the required safety studies. Monsanto et al actually wanted rigorous regulation to help reassure the public.

If Monsanto really wanted to get away with bribery, or at least save themselves huge fines, why did they turn themselves in to the US government? Who would have found out about bribes in Indonesia, where bribery is apparently seen as a cost of business?

The new link, written by Jeffrey Smith, that you claim shows bribes in Indonesia in November 2006, just repeats same story from 2005. Smith makes money off books repeating every bad story he has ever heard about GM (having met him, I don’t think he even looks for any positive evidence for GM). Just one example is the claim that sheep were made sick or died from Bt cotton in India, a claim made by activists in India and completely discredited by other Indians.

Jeffrey Smith is a devotee of the anti-GM Maharashi TM Meditation movement and has claimed to believe (and to have demonstrated) among other things, “Yogic Flying”, which has been described as looking a lot like hopping. Just google “Jeffrey Smith Yogic Flying”.

Dear safe (continued)

Relevance? If someone came to your door campaigning against a woman’s right to an abortion with all manner of facts and stats, most people would find it relevant if the person was also a staunch Catholic or fundamentalist.

It is common to claim that "Former Monsanto employees currently hold positions in US government agencies of FDA, EPA and even the Supreme Court”. Just who are the offending people? Some examples that have been cited in the past include Donald Rumsfeld and Ann Veneman, neither of whom worked for Monsanto.

Monsanto has been criticised in a few jurisdictions around the world for claiming that Roundup is biodegradable, which of course it is, but some people have picked at technical details of the wording. For context, Roundup is far more degradable than atrazine!

So many of the other claims you make are just not believable, which leads me to doubt the others. “Bollgard cotton seed into Indonesia disguised as rice”? The seeds are vastly different in appearance.

Thanks, Rojo, for correcting the record on the glyphosate ban.

Julie:
Even your own website says that Greenpeace handled the funding for your website. You also teleconferenced with them. You have worked with Greenpeace’s John Hepburn, Jeremy Tager and now Louise (Sales?). So far as I can tell, there is no substantial difference between NCF’s position with that of Greenpeace or GeneEthics, for that matter, which seems to be to prevent access to GM crops by the vast majority of southern growers. I note that GeneEthics is also participating in an NCF Public Meeting on August 29 in Horsham. Most reasonable people would see that as an alliance of NCF, GeneEthics and Greenpeace. Why are you so keen to deny that?

Your website reminded me of other questions. What is the membership of NCF? Is it more than 10 people? Are there elections and bylaws? Who can join and how? I know I am far from the first to ask these questions. Why has NCF been so secretive on these points

RobW, your link to your website does not lead anywhere so it is difficult to comment.
I have never turned away from a debate and have always encouraged it because in fair debate, we can easily disprove the rubbish that we are being told. I have however experienced being invited to participate in a debate and when the pro-GM opposition found out I was attending, they refused to participate and hence the fair debate was cancelled and replaced with a well funded pro-GM forum.
RobW, you have every opportunity to debate what we have been debating on the forum but your input has been very limited. Debate away!

Non-GM Farmer
I have no idea what you are talking about. Every link works to my website. Either your last post is a stalling tactic or you have problems contecting to proper links. I await your debate on the large amount of well documented facts about GM crops and food available on my website. I would particularly like to hear which points in the articles I have written you would like to challenge for accuracy.

Cheers

Rick,
We have debated this before in depth and as you rightly pointed out by referring to my website reference, I have been extremely honest regarding George paying Greenpeace who passed the payment to the website coordinator. I was completely unaware of the arrangement but George is a busy man and he chose to do it that way. We are talking about a miniscule amount of money compared to the ridiculous overspending (paid by corporates AND governments) on promotion done by the pro-GM activists. I have personally paid my costs. I don't really care what your attitude is to how talking to someone can possibly mean "working with" or being a "bedfellow" although I do sympathise with your wife/partner if you accuse her of the same. It is not a denial issue as I do not have a problem with it, it is correction of you trying to deliberately misinterpret the facts. However I realise its normal for the pro-GM activists to play the man, not the ball.
Good... Genethics is attending are they? I have not been involved in
arranging that meeting. Do you also consider yourself to have alliances with Monsanto if you speak at the same conference?
Read our website, NCF has never been secretive... we are a NETWORK of
concerned farmers set up to research and distribute information and networks network with a primary aim of distributing researched information and submitting this research to other organisations to influence policy.
Networks don't run like the established farm lobby groups (of which I have held senior positions in and very aware of some of the less-than-democratic policy formation methods).

R Roush

Your denials of claims made by GM opponents is interesting in that you are literally denying dozens of documented facts revealing that Monsanto has played dirty.

I can only access threads where it is Monsanto which has been the subject of litigation for fraudulent advice over their products.

I remind posters that Monsanto were the manufacturers of the heinous Agent Orange. One should view the hideous photographs of current Vietnamese children afflicted with physical deformities from this chemical. It appears there is no hope of compensation from Monsanto.

Many of us are aware of the appalling conflicts of interest between government and industry in this country. One need only investigate the number of past senior personnel from the Department of Environment in Western Australian who now have senior positions with Alcoa - one of the big polluters who was once regulated by these senior personnel.

"Is it safe" is correct when he advises that the food regulatory authorities in the US has been infiltrated by senior representatives from Monsanto.

Western Australia has learnt a lesson from the negative influences of lobbyists and their capture of ministers in government where Mr Carpenter has now placed restrictions on lobbyists' access to those who make decisions on constituents' behalf.

These restrictions are long overdue particularly when the public learn that the head of the EPA had planned to work for Burke and Grill! How can one be influenced by lobbyists over environmental assessments? It's a science! The Corruption and Crime Committee have yet to finalise their investigations over this ignominious affair.

A result of national and international revelations of corruption within governments has bred a public distrust of the influential players, their coziness with politicians and senior bureaucrats and their zest for profits.

Western Australians are still reeling from the current revelations and the many conflicts of interest between their government and industry.

GM proponents would be well advised to push their barrow elsewhere. Their alignment with an industry which is internationally viewed as unethical, will not influence the bruised and battered people of WA!