Green Options

Leeds University has resumed field trials of genetically modified potatoes just a year after protesters tore up the previous crop.

Honey bees are disappearing. The story has been in the news on and off since 2006, but for one reason or another, most people have paid little attention. And the situation is significantly dire.

Launched by the Coalition for a GM-Free India and Hamara Beej Abhiyaan (’Our Seeds’ Movement), “I am no Lab Rat” is a unique consumer awareness campaign aiming to sensitize the citizens on the impacts of producing and consuming GM foods.

The campaign came as a response to claims by those in the GM industry that Bt Brinjal, a GM brinjal variety containing the toxin producing gene from the toxic bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis, is ready to be introduced into the markets. Bt Brinjal (egg plant) is only one such crop in the pipeline— others like Bt Rice, Bt Tomato, Bt Cauliflower, Bt Cabbage, GM Potato, GM Mustard etc. are all in the process of being commercially released.

Hats off to Derry Brownfield, a Missouri radio broadcaster who spoke truth to Monsanto’s power and, as a result, lost his access to the broadcast studio in a company he co-founded.

The Corporate Crime Reporter tells the story in great detail, but here’s the tale in a nutshell:

Thirty-five years ago, Brownfield and Clyde Lear established Learfield Communications, now one of the top college sports radio broadcasters in the U.S. Lear bought out Brownfield in 1985, but Brownfield continued to broadcast for the company from its studios, eventually hosting a daily show called The Common Sense Coalition. On that show, he recently started assailing Monsanto, the multinational king of genetically modified crops and a company known for going after farmers who knowingly or unknowingly grow Monsanto-patented crops.