Flax 2

[Hopperbin]

Actually google gm flax contamination and Parsley's notebook is the first to come up. So hopefully parsley and others can have some good insight, advice for consumers, it is a declining market one that western Canada has stuck to supplying for economic reasons. So Fran you should also be stating your facts there if not already, could be lots of economic fringe consumers and activists visiting there at the moment, my opinion.

[Hopperbin]

Oh crap did it again and the Greenpeace bastards are first in line.

[parsley]

charliep

The gene markers...ah, yes.

The trade can hunt down a gene marker buried in the Nile if it froze on Christmas morning if they chose.

All ports have gene markers.

The flax could be from GMO plots, both recorded and hidden anywhere in the world. TriffidHugh handed Triffid seed out like candy to school children.

Some Dutch farmer could have pocketed a head of Triffid when he visited a Canadaian farm and then went home and multiplied it.

Or most likely it was an importer who bought linseed and sold it as food.

That would be my pick.

And everyone winked. ha ha .

There is no blame
And won't be any,
There is no responsibility
And won't be any
And the pissing dance that is going on is merely optics.

GM Triffid farmers looked the other way, the trade looked the other way, the government regulators looked the other way, and all smelled fresh and clean until someone farted in the GM church, and now they sheepishly eye up each other.

No one owns the smell.

You know that, charliep.

But the obvious point for everyone, and I mean even the skeptics, is that our food is part of an experiment that is not controllable, and of which whose importance is not at the top of ag's agenda. Damn it.

We just saw what happens when shuffling feet replaces regulatory and agronomical and commercial responsibility.

Take a second look.

Food.

I'll leave you with a point I consider important.....there are a rare few who do not have some doubt about the unintended consequences of genetically modifying food.

And especially when we get to the eventuality when no one will stand up and says they are responsible for a gene clustermucking mess......because no one knows how to fix it.

Food.

As farmers, it's our most important consideration. IMHO

pars

[Fransisco]

So if you can't have your 100 per cent GM free muffin then even if the whole rest of the world wants GM muffins they shouldn't be allowed to have them. That makes a lot of sense.

[parsley]

Oh fran, you are dealing with what you will think is an unreasonable consumer. And the ones who buy food flax in Germany are just like me. It must be difficult for you.

I regret this postscript, but... if you happen to organize a mass vote to establish that the "discerning dining majority" that you are associated with, are demanding prions in their lamb chops, by feeding yearling lambs other ground dead lambs, why, I'd still say no, even if you are just dying for the prions. I am feeling a bit stubborn here. Pars

[Fransisco]

Sorry Pars but you don't speak for all Germans. And stuborn is not the word that comes to mind.

[rockpile]

Pars, I'm with you on this one. In my own practice, I kept chemicals and artificial fertilizers to a minimum, though it was never possible to eliminate them because of the soils, climate and surroundings. However, I have a friend in west central AB who usues clover ploughdowns and good rotations and has the most beautiful tilth and organic soil odor in the world, that in itself should be a tourist attraction. GMO is Jurassic Park, take genes from a Salmon and from a tomato, paint them on a 22 shell and fire it into a petrie dish, and wow, you have the flavor savor tomato, that can withstand a few more degrees of frost, though it has a wierd texture and 0 taste. A natural progression, I think not, I have yet to see a Salmon get horny and mate with a tomato. As far as marketing your unique product, void of the mainstream agribuss culture, you have my support to go forward on your own, Pars, you don't need the CWB and they don't need you. Times have evolved and the world changes. Are you ready for tomorrow and the challenges yet to be discovered? Rockpile

[furrowtickler]

This was just a crock, to send the price of flax down so they can rob flax growers blind of perfectly good flax for half of what it is worth. Just the buyers playing God.

[Fransisco]

Changing the subject a bit, let's say it is triffid and somebody did grow it intentionally. Two things we don't know yet but let's say that's the case. Would this farmer have actually done something illegal? People grow unlicensed varieties all the time, wouldn't' this be the same thing?

[parsley]

I guess as a farmer rockpile, I encourage farmers to think about the ethics of their farm management.

Farmers are often in the front seat of plant experimentation.

There has been so much playing around with genes. Genes in people and in plants and in animals.

The genome is the collection of all human genes and their puzzle is soon put nicely together. People are smart and science will march on and that's the way it should be.

And there is protein in people and in plants and in animals, too

And of course, scientists are studying the protein in everything.

When you study all the proteins in say a human, or say in a tissue under a microscope, when you add up all of the proteins, is called a proteome.

All of the proteins in rockpile is a human proteome.

You are probably aware of the huge proteomics project (proteomics is a large scale study of proteins)in Alberta. A wondrous proteomic experiment because all of a sudden when you establish rockpile's proteome,and furrows and wd9's you can begin to modify the protein.

And the same with plants. The proteome can be modified.

So now it's not just genes that are being modified, it's also the protein that can and will be modified.

You probably know this but the flax folks are scientifically having flax poked and prodded by TUFGEN:

http://www.saskflax.com/newsrel_tufgen.html

With so much change for any farmer to even read about, let alone try to keep abreast of, if you are anything like me, it's hard to keep informed. How far do I go? Are there boundaries? maybe the leaders of our farm organizations could assume a conscientous leadership role in encouraging discussion on the importance of ethics in our farm grower-breeder programs. Will you think about that?

We're front line experimenters, folks.

I am speaking of HOW we should do things. What to be aware of. Our obligations. Our duties. Pitfalls. Our responsibilities as food growers.

Scientists struggle with the ethics of what they do and they discuss it.

And so should we. Pars

[parsley]

Glad I got the piece written just in the nick of time for what was bound to next come out of your pen:

"actually done something illegal"

Not all things legal are ethical, fran.

But you know that.

[Fransisco]

Yes, I am well aware that what is legal and what is moral are two different things.

My standard of morality is human life.

Because of this I believe that applying science to food,food production and farming is ethical and moral. The practical application of science in these areas has been tremendously positive for mankind. Our standard of living and life expectancy are a direct result of it.

Putting limits on science means putting limits on our own human potential. That would be wrong. There is nothing particularly virtuous about stagnation particularly forced stagnation.