Campaigns

Genetic Engineering

Genetic Engineering of foods threatens to undermine the whole point of healthy eating. There exists in this country a very healthy, old fashioned Anglo Saxon attitude to messing about with food, which most people find distasteful. However that does not stop the Multi National Corporations from trying to foist it on us. At the Beanbag we, as both consumers and retailers, are totally opposed to GMOs. We will not buy them and will not sell them.

GM is such a complicated affair, and the large multinationals who would swamp us with GM products to make more money for their shareholders, have made sure that GM is everywhere and is contaminating non-GMO crops.

The best that we can say is that to the best of our knowledge we do not stock any GM foods.

This claim is helped by our suppliers who are at pains to make sure that they do not sell GM to us.

If you want to know how insane the world is becoming read this copy from the Washington Post, March 30th 2001.

"Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser has to pay Monsanto thousands of dollars. That was the ruling yesterday in federal court in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Monsanto sued the farmer after pollen from transgenic canola plants blew onto his field, contaminating his conventional canola.Farmers fear that they'll be held liable when transgenic traits inadvertently end up in their conventional crops. Cross pollination is especially problematic with corn and canola. Federal Judge W. Andrew MacKay ruled that farmers do not have the right to grow patented, transgenic crops unless they pay the company that owns the patent. And what if, as in the case of Schmeiser, pollen from transgenic crops blows onto their conventional crops? They still have to pay. Margaret Mellon, director of the agriculture and biotechnology program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told the Washington Post: 'this means that people who are in the neighborhood of genetically modified crops will have to pay royalties to the companies for products they never purchased and got no benefit from.'

Monsanto hailed the ruling that it saw as protection for its patents.

May 2007

Disappearing bees

It appears that honey bees are disappearing world wide at an alarming rate especially in The USA.

Various theories have been put forward, everything from viruses to mobile phones.

One theory which is holding great sway at the moment is the preponderance, especially in the US of Genetically Modified Crops. More info.