Swine Flu : The BEST Ever Interview

[duane]

forget pig flu
the real threat is pigweed
(do we see a common thread here, ie, agri-business?)

http://www.france24.com/en/20090418-superweed-explosion-threatens-monsanto-heartlands-genetically-modified-US-crops

‘Superweed’ explosion threatens Monsanto heartlands

Sunday 19 April 2009
“Superweeds” are plaguing high-tech Monsanto crops in southern US states, driving farmers to use more herbicides, return to conventional crops or even abandon their farms.

The gospel of high-tech genetically modified (GM) crops is not sounding quite so sweet in the land of the converted. A new pest, the evil pigweed, is hitting headlines and chomping its way across Sun Belt states, threatening to transform cotton and soybean plots into weed battlefields.


In late 2004, “superweeds” that resisted Monsanto’s iconic “Roundup” herbicide, popped up in GM crops in the county of Macon, Georgia. Monsanto, the US multinational biotech corporation, is the world’s leading producer of Roundup, as well as genetically engineered seeds. Company figures show that nine out of 10 US farmers produce Roundup Ready seeds for their soybean crops.


Superweeds have since alarmingly appeared in other parts of Georgia, as well as South Carolina, North Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri, according to media reports. Roundup contains the active ingredient glyphosate, which is the most used herbicide in the USA.



How has this happened? Farmers over-relied on Monsanto’s revolutionary and controversial combination of a single “round up” herbicide and a high-tech seed with a built-in resistance to glyphosate, scientists say.


Today, 100,000 acres in Georgia are severely infested with pigweed and 29 counties have now confirmed resistance to glyphosate, according to weed specialist Stanley Culpepper from the University of Georgia.


“Farmers are taking this threat very seriously. It took us two years to make them understand how serious it was. But once they understood, they started taking a very aggressive approach to the weed,” Culpepper told FRANCE 24.


“Just to illustrate how aggressive we are, last year we hand-weeded 45% of our severely infested fields,” said Culpepper, adding that the fight involved “spending a lot of money.”


In 2007, 10,000 acres of land were abandoned in Macon country, the epicentre of the superweed explosion, North Carolina State University’s Alan York told local media.

The perfect weed


Had Monsanto wanted to design a deadlier weed, they probably could not have done better. Resistant pigweed is the most feared superweed, alongside horseweed, ragweed and waterhemp.


“Palmer pigweed is the one pest you don’t want, it is so dominating,” says Culpepper. Pigweed can produce 10,000 seeds at a time, is drought-resistant, and has very diverse genetics. It can grow to three metres high and easily smother young cotton plants.



Today, farmers are struggling to find an effective herbicide they can safely use over cotton plants.


Controversial solutions


In an interview with FRANCE 24, Monsanto’s technical development manager, Rick Cole, said he believed superweeds were manageable. “The problem of weeds that have developed a resistance to Roundup crops is real and [Monsanto] doesn’t deny that, however the problem is manageable,” he said.


Cole encourages farmers to alternate crops and use different makes of herbicides.


Indeed, according to Monsanto press releases, company sales representatives are encouraging farmers to mix glyphosate and older herbicides such as 2,4-D, a herbicide which was banned in Sweden, Denmark and Norway over its links to cancer, reproductive harm and mental impairment. 2,4-D is also well-known for being a component of Agent Orange, a toxic herbicide which was used in chemical warfare in Vietnam in the 1960s.



FRANCE 24 report: French scientist Eric Seralini says research shows Roundup herbicide is highly toxic to human beings.



Questioned on the environmental impact and toxicity of such mixtures, Monsanto’s public affairs director, Janice Person, said that “they didn’t recommend any mixtures that were not approved by the EPA,” she said, referring to the US federal Environmental Protection Agency.


According to the UK-based Soil Association, which campaigns for and certifies organic food, Monsanto was well aware of the risk of superweeds as early as 2001 and took out a patent on mixtures of glyphosate and herbicide targeting glyphosate-resistant weeds.


“The patent will enable the company to profit from a problem that its products had created in the first place,” says a 2002 Soil Association report.


Returning to conventional crops


In the face of the weed explosion in cotton and soybean crops, some farmers are even considering moving back to non-GM seeds. “It’s good for us to go back, people have overdone the Roundup seeds,” Alan Rowland, a soybean seed producer based in Dudley, Missouri, told FRANCE 24. He used to sell 80% Monsanto “Roundup Ready” soybeans and now has gone back to traditional crops, in a market overwhelmingly dominated by Monsanto.


According to a number of agricultural specialists, farmers are considering moving back to conventional crops. But it’s all down to economics, they say. GM crops are becoming expensive, growers say.


While farmers and specialists are reluctant to blame Monsanto, Rowland says he’s started to “see people rebelling against the higher costs.”

[Fintan]

[atm]

Apparently my mate's got Swine Flu but, I think he's just telling porkies.

Did you know, the only known cure for Swine Flu has been found to be the liberal application of oinkment.

George Orwell's publishing company has re-released 'Animal Farm'; it's now called 'Angry Pig Pharma'.

I was teaching some rather erudite swine English literature the other day. I asked the class:

"So, piglets, what has been your most rewarding Shakespearean play?"

To which they replied, in unison, "Hamlet."

"And your favourite opera?"

"Pigmalion."

Mother pig: "What did you learn in school today?"
First piglet: "Oink! Oink!"
Second piglet: "Oink! Oink!"
Third piglet: "Woof! Woof!"
Mother pig: "What?"
Third piglet: "I'm taking a foreign language."

atm

[atm]

What do you make of this, champs 'n chumps?

atm

[Fintan]

[Continuity]

Another great, informative audio - you're on a roll, Fintan!

And thanks to the good Dr., too.

[virtuoso]

Perhaps you could explain why virologists are implying this has come out of nowhere? also isn't is true that such strains are monitored for years and then they become potentially problematic, such a strain does not take place overnight.

[atm]

Continuity

I am, have never been, and will never be, a doctor. A joker, yeah; a doctor, nope.

atm

[rustyh]

If you think you have 'swine flu', dont bother ringing the hotline, because all you get is a lot of 'crackling'.
Instead ring a 'hambulance'!

[Fintan]

[rustyh]

'APORKALYPSE NOW'

"i love the smell of bacon in the morning."

[atm]

Do not forget the seminal 'Hamburger Pill'.

atm

[virtuoso]

Well either 2 things are happening in that case, either this has been blown out of all proportion, or this represents magnificent luck for the new world order. Just think about it's timing, unemployment is rocketing, pressure was being brought to try Bush and the others, with the full spotlight of the media on it, the banks were have been and are raping us blind, no transparency no oversight, a refusal from Bernanke to say where the money has gone, a revolution in the midst in Mexico and where should this hit, Mexico!.

Something stinks

[marlin]

[atm]

I know I'll be shot down over Berlin for this, but here goes. Occasionally this dude is bang on the money. Here goes:

http://www.infowars.com/special-weekend-broadcast-alex-jones-swine-flu-hoax/

Make of it what you will.

atm