Agricultural Biodiversity
these products. The funding for Terminator technology actually came from the U.S.D.A. Last year it was reported that Bt corn not labeled for human consumption had found it's way into several processed foods. They were recalled, but how many weren't caught? And if this corn is approved for livestock consumption isn't it all the same food chain?
I've shied away from this aspect of heirloom gardening because I felt
people reading this type of forum were mostly looking for gardening tips.
But when I start to consider that heirloom vegetables might soon become
simply a historical topic, I think it's important enough to write about
here. I'm just learning about this myself. If you'd like to
research this further I'd suggest you check out some of these excellent
web sites. The World Resources Institute's goal was "to place questions
of natural resource destruction, environmental pollution, and ecosystem
degradation on the global agenda." Their Biodiversity
Page covers a range of issues including a press release on how
cultivating
agricultural biodiversity is necessary for global food security.
On the Consumers
Union's Food Safety Page you'll find a paper on The
Debate Over Food Biotechnology: Is A
Societal
Consensus Achievable? The Rural
Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) has been in the forefront
of the activity surrounding this issue. "RAFI is dedicated
to the conservation and sustainable improvement of agricultural biodiversity,
and to the socially responsible development of technologies useful to rural
societies. They were incorporated in the Netherlands in 1985 and
are currently headquartered in Canada with Directors from around the world.
Their web site is very meaty and well worth the reading. Another
substantial read is the UK Agricultural
Biodiversity Coalition (UKabc) page. They are a segment of the
IK Food Group "Bringing together Public Interest UK organizations concerned
with Sustainable Use, Conservation, Benefit Sharing, Trade, Patents,
Intellectual Property, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Genetic Engineering, Biosafety
and other issues related to the Equitable Use of Agricultural Biodiversity
for Local Food and Livelihood Security."