Persephone wrote:

Perfect segue into the plight of poor Third World farmers who
used to save seek and replant each year -- until Monsanto starte
forcing them to buy "Terminator" seeds, genetically engineered
so they couldn't be saved and replanted.

Interested gardeners (and people with a world view) might
be interested in this cri de coeur on the subject, and might want
to send on to your Lists.

Persephone

Yup, this is an issue that my girfriend and I were discussing
just the other day. Hybridization and genetic manipulation for
the sole purpose of maintaining a monopoly can hardly be a good
thing for farmers or the greater public, particularly when it
puts our food supply at risk because of reduced genetic
diversity and potential genetic crossover to other plants.

Thad