Friday, February 22, 2008

Don't Let Johnny Appleseed's Dream Die !

Monsanto's fiendish plot to control the world's seed industry with the "Terminator Seed"


The legendary "Johnny Appleseed" (John Chapman) between 1800 and 1849 wandered the wilds of the Ohio Valley planting apple trees. Over 150 years later some of these trees are still bearing fruit. But in today's world large seed companies are striving to make what Johnny Appleseed did illegal.


Giant companies like Monsanto, producer of the Terminator seeds (page 104), are striving to stop farmers from saving and re-using their seeds from generation to generation. They require farmers to sign a licensing agreement which strongly prohibits the reuse of Monsanto seeds. They even hire investigators like the Pinkerton Detective Agency and have others spy on their neighbors to identify farmers who break their contracts. It's bad enough that they have turned America's heartland into a farming police-state; but it's absolutely unforgivable that they seek to keep third-world farmers (who usually cannot afford to buy new seeds every year) from feeding billions of people who depend on their crops.


Johnny Appleseed, one of the great American heroes, dreamed of a land covered with apple trees, a land where no one would go hungry. One hundred and fifty years later Monsanto has replaced Johnny Appleseed's joyous dream with a new and evil one of profit and famine.


We must protest against Monsanto and their efforts to control the world's seeds, plants and the people's food! Write and alert your congressmen and senators, and talk to family and friends to make them aware! Learn more about this shocking situation; protest and spread the word!


Keep World's Plant Seeds Alive - Not Sterile!


Until recently the magic of the garden, the joy of growing plants and food, was as simple as collecting Mother Nature's seeds and caring for them season after season. Since I was 5 years old I have taken great joy in collecting seeds and giving them away, spreading the beauty of the plants they contained throughout the world. My Dad filled me with wonder at the stories of Johnny Appleseed's accomplishments (see page 30), and I strive to follow his admirable path. Sweetpeas were my favorite.


My Dad and I gave away thousands of sweetpea seeds and they are all over the world. Now simple human pleasures such as this are in jeopardy. Some large seed companies now claim their seeds as "intellectual property." In this way, seed companies prohibit farmers by force from saving and re-using seeds from one crop to the next. Even more disturbingly, in recent years major seed companies have made great strides in genetically engineering sterile seeds that sprout plants incapable of reproducing.


If Dad and I didn't collect and spread these sweetpea seeds around the world, there would be no seed legacy to give us joy. These seeds would be no more than rotting pellets in the ground. Save the world's seeds for you and your children! Write your elected representatives and protest with strong words that you want this stopped!


Make your voice heard!


Visit the etcgroup website for more info on genetic engineering of seeds: www.etcgroup.org


Terminator Sterile Seeds Threaten World's Food Freedom!


Terminator seeds are sterile crop seeds patented and marketed by the Monsanto Corp. that have been biologically altered to sprout a permanently infertile plant. The large scale use of these seeds (which is already underway in over 78 countries) could directly threaten the well-being of 1.4 billion people who now depend on food grown with fertile seeds.


This would present a huge risk to the world because it could spread and sterilize all living plants, trees, etc. Farmers (and their neighbors, with plants 'accidentally' cross-pollinated by Terminator plants) would be forced to buy new seeds every year. For many of these farmers financial ruin would result, thus bringing on misery and famine for millions worldwide. Monsanto's seed program has no benefits for the world, only for the company's pocketbook. Discover Monsanto's fiendish plot to control the world's seed industry.



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