Re: genetic food

In response to Joćo Paulo Dias request for information regarding GM and additives in foods with respect to the pressure being put on the US government, the mechanism is as follows. Join an environmental protection organisation. Pay a subscription and add to this as and when for legal fees. Right now Greenpeace is asking today for cash in order to take the UK government to court over the protection of the Atlantic Frontier. I shall send a cheque for £15, not a lot but all I can afford right now. With that comes instructions to call various supermarket chains and protest about GM and GM being used as animal feed. I shall call those with a freephone number. I notice that McDonalds careline is an 0990 number so I won’t be calling them, the charge could be up to £0.5 per minute – they are Email unlisted too.
 After years of crises, which includes the BSE problem, the majority of people in the UK are concerned about the future problem, GM and perhaps beef from the US containing steroids. In the former you die from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or some related disease, whereas in the latter there are only side effects, such as full blown AMG, that’s acquired mammary glands.
 In today’s Mail 22nd Nov, is this – Supermarket Slump – Safeway and Sainsbury’s profits to plunge as shoppers lose faith.
 “There was more bad news for the company (Safeway) yesterday when a survey revealed that Scots are poised to desert supermarkets in favour of their local stores. The study, by the Scottish Co-op, predicted that the majority of Scots believe the food industry is more interested in profit than in public safety.”
 The item ends with this, “Scots are now seriously beginning to question why certain retailers have so much power.”
 A current phrase just now is ‘Rip-off Britain’, where just about everything is more expensive than anywhere else. Those lucky enough to live near the Channel can go to France where prices are about half for most goods. Last year about £800M was lost in drink and tobacco duty, in Belgium 25 grams of tobacco costs about £0.84, here it is £3.06. And all this used to be called the ‘common market’. Not ‘common’ for the people in general, only for big business. A Ford car made in Britain is about half the price if you buy it in Denmark, but the authorities are trying to find ways of stamping out this loop-hole. Prices of goods in the US are lower than in the UK, it is now cheaper to fly from Glasgow to New York than it is from Glasgow to Inverness, so many take the opportunity of going from here to New York to by high-value goods.
 There is not as far as I can see any concern over American corporate hegemony, most large organisations appear to be non-state, with the registered office in Paraguay or Bahamas. Railtrack of the UK is based in Bahamas, the fact that the money is generated in the UK is not as important as making a profit in Bahamas.
 
William Kirk

----- Original Message -----

From: Joćo Paulo Dias <jpdias@sonata.fe.uc.pt>

To: WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>

Sent: 17 November 1999 15:21

Subject: genetic food

Hi 

Dr. Mark Neupert is requesting information about this 
problem in several
countries. Can you help him.
Best regards
Joćo Paulo 
Dias

 >>
 >>Hello 
All,
 >>
 >>Along with the usual smattering of intro 
to anthro/arch courses, I teach a
 >>class called Technology, 
Society and Values.  This week in class, we've
 >>been going 
over biotechnology and the genetic engineering of food.  I 
was
 >>blown away by the fact that none of my 60 or so students 
knew what the
 >>"terminator gene" or sterile seed technology 
was.  In fact, they had no
 >>clue that most of the food in 
the supermarket contains genetically 
modified
 >>ingredients.  Fortunately, we've also gone over 
the corporate control of
 >>the media, and thus have some 
explanation for their ignorance (Boas meets
 >>Chomsky in my 
approach to technology assessment).   Here in 
America,
 >>coverage is 
meager.
 >>
 >>The changes in last couple of months 
of the political/economic landscape of
 >>GM foods has been 
astounding.  Six days ago, 49 U.S. representative 
wrote
 >>the head of the FDA demanding mandatory labeling.  
ADM has requested
 >>American farmers to separate GM crops from 
traditional ones.  This is not a
 >>result of American 
activism, but pressure from foreign governments 
and
 >>activists.  I find it a very interesting case study on 
the global
 >>economy.   Societies other than the U.S. 
(the host) are influencing the
 >>evolution of 
biotechnology.
 >>
 >>I have the impression that 
non-U.S. societies (EU, Australia, New Zealand,
 >>Japan, and many 
of the developing nations) see the issue as more than
 >>public 
health, but also a problem of American corporate hegemony and 
the
 >>general arrogance of corporations within the global economy 
- an issue
 >>never raised by the American 
media.
 >>
 >>So, list-members of the world, could 
you tell me what is going on in your
 >>society?  What's the 
tone of the debate in Mexico, the Netherlands, 
Kenya,
 >>Iowa?    What else is going on that we 
Americans don't hear 
about?
 >>
 >>Cheers,
 >>
 >>
 >>
 >>Dr. 
Mark Neupert
 >>Department of Humanities and Social 
Sciences
 >>Oregon Institute of 
Technology
 >>Klamath Falls, OR. 
97603
 >>(541)885-1394 (office)
 >>(541)885-1520 
(fax)
 >>email:neupertm@oit.edu
Joćo Paulo 
Dias

Centro de Estudos Sociais
Colégio de S. Jerónimo
Apartado 
3087
3001-401 Coimbra
Portugal
Tel. directo: 00-351-239-855585
Fax: 
00-351-239-855589