Current Issue
Old MacDonald Had A Standard
#275, August 2010
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Table of Contents
Old MacDonald Had A Standard: Starting with the formation of the Chicago Board of Trade, trying to regulate the grain trade, standards have spread all over the place - and do not always assure the consumer of the integrity of the product.
Know Your Fish: Marine Stewardship Council is one standard that is reliable
Industrial-Strength Standards: Monsanto and others tout 'standards' that are just PR; Cargill is using standards as another tool to lock farmers into its systems.
Waste Not, Want Less: Looking at food waste and our energy footprint.
Global Agribusiness: Two decades of plunder: An appreviated version of a thoughtful reflection in GRAIN's publication, Seedling, discussing 20 years of defense of biodiversity around the world and in global forums, watching the rise of agribusiness.
Mongolian Camels and mining companies: Both Rio TInto and the traditional nomadic herders need water. Guess who is getting it?
Aphids: pest-resistant soybeans have been developed using traditional breeding - and Monsanto has announced a GE soy tolerant to powerful insecticides.
"The feed-the-world business": Agrium Inc. is offering to buy the privatized Australian Wheat Board;
Then there is BHP Billiton which is trying to purchase Saskatchewan's Potash Corp.
Lobbies: Millions of dollars grease a close relationship between major corporations and governments, often in support of genetic engineering.
Another "cost of doing business": a $2.5 million fine against Monsanto for illegal distribution of GE cotton seed in Texas.
Pomoting GE? Laying it on the line: top US government officials reassure the biotech industry convention that they will promote their products.