Depressing Day. Sometimes it is hard to believe the wisdom that
Margaret Mead once expressed:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
As I type this, the resounding reactions of disbelief, concern, anger etc are raging through the internet, as people realize how SCOTUS is willing to sell out democracy for the sake of the friends in High Places.
Equally depressing is my realization as what this ruling means to those of us who want not only democracy but safe food.
I know there are other issues that are as important as safe food. But no other issue currently confronting us has the indelible time stamp on it that this issue possesses.
If the US government "goofs up" on health care reform, it might be a hard and long struggle to bring about a better situation. (ACA vs Single Payer Universal HC for All, for example.)
If the government embarks on an illegal war,eventually it is possible for the nation we affected (and are affecting) to rebound, although it may take one hundred years.
But as our government allows full leniency for Gm Firms to embark on the Gm seed, crop and food issue, so that the Gm seeds, crops and foods are planted everywhere, and consumed by almost everyone, including the animals that we eat, then what?
POLLEN IS JUST NOT ABLE TO PUT ITSELF BACK INTO THE BOTTLE! ONCE THE GENIE OF BIG GOVERNMENT ALLOWS ITS RELEASE, IT IS OUT THERE FOREVER!!!
So should it turn out that Gm seeds, crops and foods turn out to be a disaster, the food supply in this nation will be beyond destruction, as it will be beyond repair. Pollen is indifferent to whether or not a new government decides it is good or bad. Once the seeds are allowed to be planted in large enough numbers, and as the crops mature, the pollen is then freely dispersed into the air, and from there on out it could reach a tipping point, so that the Gm seeds become dominant over other seeds. This dispersal is all encompassing, as the seeds travel into the atmosphere, and into the soil, water, and air.
Ten years or twenty years from now, Mr Obama might come to rue his decisions to allow Mike Taylor and Vilsac their high positions inside our governmental agencies, but even if he still at that time has influence over his party, there will be no speech he can give, nor amount of money he can raise, nor any amount of friends in high places he can influence who will be able to undo what has been done in the last twenty years.
Pollen is pollen. Other nations do not take a position that the Precautionary Principle is invalid. Rather, they take the position that if there are no real valid studies of a scientific process, it is best to avoid that process until the facts are in.
I know from dealing with individuals on other boards and forums that this principle, so trusted and understood in other places, is ridiculed in the USA. Here in the USA our citizens are now drenched inside the arrogance and stupidity of "our right to believe" that if we don't know if something so good or bad, then we should just use that technology and product until we discover otherwise.
How would I define the Precautionary Principle? The Precautionary Principle asserts that the burden of proof for potentially harmful actions by industry or government rests on the assurance of safety and that when there are threats of serious damage, scientific uncertainty must be resolved in favor of prevention. In practice it is taken to mean that if there is not enough reliable data on a situation to determine that it is safe, then the process, technology or product in question should not be encouraged, utilized or funded.
Twenty six nations have officials who are granted the freedom to hold office without the need for the massive Big Industry contributions for political campaigns. On account of that freedom, they can ban Gm seeds and crops and foods. Even last week, yet another Pacific Rim country denounced Gm foods, and their top official has put a ban on them. (I am forgetting if it was Malayasia, or whatever. Maybe someone here has that information?)
But here in the USA, regardless if we have a republican in the Oval Office, or a Democrat, or a Democratic or Republican majority in Congress, the Big Money wins the advantage. We activists are called Luddites because we ask for caution, and the Gm seed and crops and foods are allowed to flourish. Meanwhile, in fact the companies supporting Gm technology are given massive amounts of Corporate Welfare to achieve their aims.