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Britain could be new 'Alcatraz' Island.
The tiny spec of land chartered by Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala in 1775 named the island La Isla de los Alcatraces, which translated to "Island of the Pelicans". After many various uses the island now know as 'Alcatraz', finished its days being used as a Federal prison, with strong cold currents being the deterrent to would be escapees.
Britain holds a fairly unique position of its own, as an island with 7723 miles of
coastline, unlike many of its land-
The UK ranks 6th, on the International Monetary Funds statistics as of April 2009 worlds richest countries, at $2.674 trillion, down by 4.6 percent. According to 2008 figures, the United Kingdom was in 9th place for the biggest exporter, with exports totalling $464.9 billion. Imports totalled $636 billion of foreign goods last year led by foodstuffs, fuels, machinery and manufactured goods.
The UK has seen a steady decline over the last 20 years of manufacturing business, with many companies packing up once local enterprise and government incentive grant schemes have dried up. Local labour markets have been dumped in preference to impossibly cheaper labour costs on the other side of the world. Car manufacturing is the latest victim, with thousand of jobs hanging in the balance, with Germany the largest supplier of imported goods to the UK at 13.1%, being the preferred country for car manufacturers moving away from Britain.
Farming has also had its pressures and casualties over the last two decades, with farm production considerably reduced. According to recent figures, there are 10.85 million less sheep and lambs in the national flock compared to 1997, a drop of 25% to 33.13 million. In total, the number of pigs, cows and sheep is down by more than 15 million over the last 10 years. The UK imported £15.2 billion more food than was exported, up 52% on top of inflation since 1998. The amount of land to grow crops has been cut by more than 20 percent leading to a huge reduction in home grown fruit and vegetables.
Supermarkets are beginning to embrace environmental values, as their consumers become
more environmentally aware, looking for ways to reduce their impact on global warming
due to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Sainsburys long recognised as a pioneer of
new environmental initiatives, are now top cookies on Carbon Good Guys supermarket
league tables.Supermarkets need to be more honest and true to the values they portray
to their consumers, which means not sourcing fish caught around Scotland which has
been sent half way around the world on a 10,000 mile trip to be processed by workers
being paid a pound a day and re-
In order to further reduce Britain's annual CO2 Carbon footprint, which over the
past two years has dropped 18,741 thousand metric tons to 568,520, the United Kingdom
needs to replace ageing power stations with the latest renewable sources of energy.
This new energy production will not have the same de-
The British Isles, far from being on a collision course with disaster, with respected figures predicting a 'blackouts by 2016 unless large swathes of land are industrialised to produce power, should instead look to the Scots for inspiration and start viewing our island status as an asset in producing renewable energy including the sighting of wind farms offshore. This will free up the land to produce more of our own desperately needed fruit and vegetables to reduce our dependence upon imports and more importantly the effect on Global warming from Carbon emissions due in part to transportation, with supermarkets sourcing more produce from local suppliers.
Despite Britain's 'Alcatraz' status and its dependence upon staples such as food being flown and shipped in by the container load in ever increasing quantities, the UK possess the ability to produce more for her 61.1 million citizens, who would be happier in the knowledge that they are buying goods which are produced locally. They would also sleep more easily if they knew that their islands dependence on foreign energy sources had been vastly reduced, due in no small part, to the emerging investments in technologies harnessing the seas wave and tidal systems around our coast.
Reducing dependence upon food imports, is at the very core of Britain's exitance
and survival. The explosion in take ups of local authority vegetable allotments,
popular during the second World War, should be taken as a barometer on the mood of
the British public and their eagerness to get back to basics. Those basics will be
eroded if the Government continues on its planned charm offensive over the next 12
months, to persuade the British public of the need to accept Genetically Modified
(GM) seed technology. The Government's push on GM coincides with the decision to
appoint former Labour minister and GM supporter Lord Rooker as chairman of the Food
Standards Agency. A chapter in the 'Little Earth Book' published in 2003, contained
a chapter entitled Terminator seed, out-
Seed that 'commits suicide' and is genetically engineered to remain sterile unless its own chemicals are applied can not be good for the publics food production, with self reliance as a country being eroded in favour of imported 'smart' goods which force the country to be at the mercy of corporations who have profit as their goal, with little consideration to the environment or global warming. The United Kingdom, far from being disadvantaged by its seemingly imprisoned island status, is more than capable of producing for its inhabitants and does not need Ministers pushing through policies benefiting Global Corporations, disguising them as requirements for Britain's continued growth and survival.
Why should GM foods not be adopted ?
Interview with the Director of the Film “The World according to Monsanto”, from June last year, gives update on her film below. Includes a catalogue of examples of a company hiding the truth, while its products have killed and disabled humans around the globe.
Latest research by French Scientific Research institute published paper entitled,
“Glyphosate based pesticides affect cell cycle regulation.” Roundup’s Toxic nature
has lead to Monsanto being ordered to remove the bio-
His teams discussions with Administrators, lead to them being ordered not to discuss their findings due to the GMO question lurking in the background.
Glyphosate is contained in Roundup, a product that is sold to agriculture and gardeners to kill weeds. The genetically modified seed is partly altered to resist the spraying of roundup, which means the crop remains when sprayed over to kill the weeds. Most GM crops are being marketed as a two part wonder product, with Roundup being a required part of the modified seed package. The transgenic nature of the GM seed is such, that wind blown pollen will alter the genetic make up of neighbouring crops and plants to form mutant variants, with seeds that no longer remain true to that which was planted. Third world farmers are then forced to buy new seed from Monsanto, as their seed is lost. None GM seed is therefore at risk of being lost forever, as the new variants are peddled around the globe as the wonder crop provider of tomorrow.
LYON, France, Jan 26 (AFP) Jan 26, 2007 The US agrochemical giant Monsanto was fined
15,000 euros (19,000 dollars) in a French court Friday for misleading the public
about the environmental impact of its flagship herbicide Roundup.
A former chairman
of Monsanto Agriculture France was found guilty of false advertising for presenting
Roundup as biodegradable and claiming that it left the soil clean after use. Monsanto's
French distributor Scotts France was also fined 15,000 euros.
On 26 June 2006 Mathaba News published an article headlined "Monsanto tells a pack
of lies in South Africa". That article exposed how Monsanto had told the South African
Advertising Authority (ASA) that MON 863 was not their product. MON 863 was in fact
their product and had been found to cause damage to to rats in independent trials
in Europe. Monsanto had in fact made an application for this product to be released
in South Africa. The ASA ordered Monsanto SA to withdraw its advert which depicted
a mother with two children in a kitchen looking at a cake. Among other false claims
the advert stated "no substantiated scientific or medical negative reactions to GM
foods have ever been reported".
The advert also falsely claimed that genetically
modified foods contained enhanced proteins, vitamins and anti-
Interview with Filmmaker Marie-
Documentary -
The World According to Monsanto 1 of 10
Further information on Monsanto Company
Agracetus, owned by Monsanto, exclusively produces Roundup Ready soybean seed for the commercial market. In 2005, it finalized purchase of Seminis Inc, making it the world's largest conventional seed company.
Monsanto's development and marketing of genetically engineered seed and bovine growth
hormone, as well as its aggressive litigation and political lobbying practices, have
made the company controversial around the world and a primary target of the anti-
Despite its 1999 pledge not to commercialize Terminator technology, Monsanto has recently adopted a positive stance on genetic seed sterilization, a technology that has been condemned by civil society and some governments as an immoral application of genetic engineering.
Multi-
More Small Family Farmers
Percy Schmeiser is a farmer from Saskatchewan Canada, whose Canola fields were contaminated
with Monsanto's genetically engineered Round-
Monsanto's GE Seeds are Pushing US Agriculture into Bankruptcy
Genetically engineered crops are causing an economic disaster for farmers in the U.S. So says a new report released by Britain's Soil Association. The report is a massive compilation of data showing GE crops have cost American taxpayers $12 billion in farm subsidies in the past three years. "Within a few years of the introduction of GM crops, almost the entire $300 million annual US maize exports to the EU had disappeared, and the US share of the soya market had decreased," the report said. In addition, the study says that GE crops have lead to an increased use of pesticides, while resulting in overall lower crop yields.
Monsanto Takes Ownership of Public Water Resources
Over the past century, global water supplies have been contaminated with the full gamut of Monsanto's chemicals, including PCBs, dioxin and glyophosate (Roundup). So now the company, seeing a profitable market niche, is taking control of the public water resources they polluted, filtering it, and selling it back to the people. In short, Monsanto is making a double profit by polluting the world's scarce freshwater resources, privately taking ownership of that water, filtering it, and selling it back to those who can afford to pay for it.
Cotton Farmers Going Bankrupt from Monsanto's GE Cotton
In India the financial figures for the recent cotton growing season have finally been crunched. Although Monsanto convinced many of India's farmers that buying the more expensive GE cotton seeds would result in higher yields and better cotton, the reverse is actually true. Crop yields for GE cotton were 5 TIMES LESS than traditional Indian cotton and the income from GE cotton was 7 TIMES LESS than conventional cotton, due to Monsanto's cotton having lower quality short fibers. As a result of the insurmountable deluge of debt accrued from paying more for the GE seeds and having a weak crop, more than 100 Indian farmers committed suicide in the last year.
GM Roundup shown by French Scientist Robert Belle and his team to “alter the mechanism that controls cell division, which provokes the early stages of cancer”. See videos further down page
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