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Barbara H. Peterson
Farm Wars
Recently Natural News put out an article titled “Court rules organic farmers can sue conventional, GMO farmers whose pesticides ‘trespass’ and contaminate their fields” The article puts forth the supposition that this is a good thing, and somehow a victory by organics over Monsanto:
The stunning victories of both the Johnson’s and Jacob’s Farm / Del Cobo against their chemical-polluting neighbors is huge, in that it represents a new set legal precedent for holding conventional, factory farming operations responsible for the damage their systems cause to other farms. And with this new precedent set, many more organic farmers, for instance, can now begin suing GMO farmers for both chemical and genetic pollution that drifts onto their farms.
A stunning victory? I don’t think so. In fact, I believe that this is a set-up, and not a precedent at all, but a planned maneuver by a wily and unscrupulous government agency and Monsanto. The fact that GMOs are acknowledged as a contaminant is good. However, let’s take a closer look at just what is really going on behind the scenes, and why I believe this is a divide and conquer strategy put in play to further erode our agricultural base, and drive family farms out of business. At first glance, farmers being able to sue other farmers for GMO contamination seems to be a good thing. Farmer contaminates farmer’s field, farmer sues for loss of crops. Everyone is happy, right? Wrong. The fact is that in this particular case, organic farmers only won this victory because the farm that did the contaminating was habitually violating already existing pesticide laws. This does not address the real issue, which is why invasive crops are allowed to grow right next to conventional crops to begin with. There are two victims here, besides the people who are being fed GMOs without their knowledge or consent. Both farmers are victims in this scenario.
Farmers who buy GMOs are victims of corporate greed, trickery, and Monsanto’s covert agenda as well as the organic farmers who are trying to keep from getting contaminated. Yes, the GMO farmers should not buy the junk in the first place. But let me ask you something: When you go to the grocery store, do you look at the label of each and every thing you buy? Do you know what the ingredients are in all of the foods you eat? Can you even pronounce half of them? And once you get the food home, even if it contains something that you’ve never even heard of, do you still eat it, or do you throw it away? If you answer no to these questions, can you really fault farmers for doing the exact same thing that you yourself are guilty of?
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