On 4 Sep 2003 00:48:21 GMT, Brian Sandle
posted:

Brian Sandle wrote:
Dean Hoffman wrote:

Another is insect control. There something showing up locally that has no
treatment except rotation. I don't remember what it is. It isn't the
traditional bugs or weeds.
The seed corn companies here won't put their crop into a field that had
corn the previous year.

So I hope the people here in NZ who are supporting the end of the GM
moratorium have got some figures on how that sort of thing affects their
whole profit scenario.

Or are they going to whimper that they could not have forseen such
problems and get a govt tax hand out for more research and or trying to
keep up standard of living of farmers who may be suffering. Otherwise how
can the govt keep on god terms with their mates in biotech?

The NZ govt seem to be now indicating they do not want Monsanto food crops
in the near future. Though that is not certain. But they might approve GM
pine. And former ag scientist and now Govt member Choudhary yesterday
referred to reduced chemical use in Australian GM cotton. As a scientist
he should have acknowledged the possibility this is only an initial blip
in pest control of this new venture in Australia, same as with the old DDT
which was dropped from constant use because it lost its effectiveness
against insects.

No, it was grossly overused and the extreme persistence was
recognised. It is still extremely effective against malaria with NO
environmental impact.

I have cautioned before about tissue culture of pine - many genetically
identical plants could be susceptible to new diseases/pests. Now we have
new aspects of problems as Dean has indicated. Pine takes quite a few
years to grow and if something goes wrong all those years could be lost.

And? So don't invest in it

Besides if your trees spread as weeds the way pines do in New Zealand,
will you be liable?

As much as with any other exotic weed.

Didn't I read that some GM connected Canola - rape has become
uncontrollable by chemicals and Monsanto are sending workers to remove it
by hand?

Which would these be? Are you referring to the Sooper Dooper
Frankenweeds that are glyphosate resistant wild mustard? Do what you
always had to do with wild mustard. It is no different to any other
wild mustard except that you can't use glyphosate on it.