Re: Gates, Monsanto, others investing $30-mil in "doomsday seed bank"

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Titus Brown <titus () caltech edu>
Date: December 5, 2007 9:11:51 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] Gates, Monsanto, others investing $30-mil in  
"doomsday seed bank"
Reply-To: titus () idyll org

On Wed, Dec 05, 2007 at 05:42:07PM -0500, Dave Farber wrote:
-> -----Original Message-----
-> From: Jim Warren [mailto:jwarren () well com]
-> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 4:56 PM
-> To: Dave Farber
-> Subject: Gates, Monsanto, others investing $30-mil in "doomsday  
seed bank"
->
-> How benevolent of them.  (Or do they know something we don't  
know?)  --jim
->
-> http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7529

[ ... ]

-> Did we miss something here? Their press release stated, 'so that crop
-> diversity can be conserved for the future.' What future do the seed  
bank's
-> sponsors foresee, that would threaten the global availability of  
current
-> seeds, almost all of which are already well protected in designated  
seed
-> banks around the world?

I found this article by Seabrook in the New Yorker to be a very
interesting discussion of the global seed bank:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/27/070827fa_fact_seabrook

At least according to Seabrook, the diversity of seeds in seed banks is
fast decreasing and we are close to a "diversity" crisis that could have
dramatic consequences on our ability to adapt to future crop disasters.

The payoff for Monsanto for keeping this diversity alive is pretty
obvious, I would think, given biotech's reliance on modifying existing
strains rather than creating new ones entire.

--titus


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