Scientists must ask corporations for permission before publishing independent research on genetically modified crops.
That restriction must end.
To purchase genetically modified seeds, a customer must sign an agreement that limits what can be done with them. Agreements are considered necessary to protect a company’s intellectual property, and they justifiably preclude the replication of the genetic enhancements that make the seeds unique.
But agritech companies such as Monsanto, Pioneer and Syngenta go further. For a decade their user agreements have explicitly forbidden the use of the seeds for any independent research.
Under the threat of litigation, scientists cannot test a seed to explore the different conditions under which it thrives or fails. They cannot compare seeds from one company against those from another company. And perhaps most important, they cannot examine whether the genetically modified crops lead to unintended environmental side effects...
Comment:
It is stunning how agencies such as the FDA and the European Commission approve genetically modified seeds and plants on the say-so of the companies producing them, without demanding studies on their health effects, while giving the nod to practices as described here by Scientific American - the blocking of any independent research that could conceivably show ho damaging those GM plants are to our health.
"Business, business, uber alles" one might be tempted to say...
Via Sepp Hasslberger



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