Genetically Modified Beets

Any reasonably-minded person should be able to acknowledge that engineering food crops to survive applications of herbicides and pesticides is a bad idea. These genetic “enhancements” as they are labeled by their proponents are designed only to increase reliance on poisonous chemicals in conjunction with the growing of our foodstuff. In addition to causing us all to consume more chemicals in our diets, it also leads to higher concentrations of chemicals in our groundwater (and therefore in our drinking water), leading to increased consequences of chemical prevalence throughout the ecosystem (and still more increased human consumption of chemicals, especially any that are bio-accumulative, such as dioxin), especially among the urban poor, who have limited space in which to grow their own vegetables and limited money with which to make purchasing decisions such as opting for the often more-expensive “organic” alternative.

Not to mention that cross-pollination occurs over large geographic boundaries and therefore the genes of the modified crop escape into seeds produced elsewhere. It’s a story we’ve heard many times relating to corn in the Southwest, and the dangers to indigenous corn species throughout Mexico—but it’s not limited to corn.

Highmowing Organic Seeds, which is a joint litigant in a case currently filed against the USDA regarding the agency’s plan to deregulate Roundup-resistant sugar beets, has a very good description of the wide-ranging impact possible from sugar beets to related species including “chard, and red and yellow beets (or ‘table beets’)” and more information about the suit here.

One Response to “Genetically Modified Beets”

  1. Farmer Troy Says:

    This is important stuff . . . thanks for posting it Jesse, and thanks to High Mowing Seeds for taking a stand against USDA, which in reality, is taking on the big pharma-seed companies, a David vs. Goliath type of scenario.

    The USDA is in bed with all the big pharma-seed-chemical corporations like Bayer, Monsanto, etc.

    One way to avoid GMOs is to always buy organics.

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