Genetic creeps

A friend sends this in depth article about how Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops are contaminating conventional and organic crops across the country. This was wholly anticipated by ecologists--Mother Nature simply can't be controlled the way Monsanto would like. Pollinators, feral plants, the way natural selection can circumvent human technology to produce "super-weeds" all predictably will help the Monsanto genie out of the bottle. We have to ask ourselves why we are allowing this to happen; is it all for the bottom line that we contaminate our food sources? Read all about it in "Brave New Hay: Is Monsanto's genetic engineering erasing the line between what is natural and what is not?".

Global warming is also eroding the genetic diversity of our food plants. The FEED electronic newsletter provided the following blurb, that indicates to me that with genetic creep by GMOs, and genetic bottlenecks imposed by global warming, we are heading towards a "perfect storm" of problems with regard to maintaining flexibility within our food crops to respond to respond to erratic weather patterns, and increased drought conditions brought on by climate change.

"Global warming threatens wild relatives of food crops.
Global warming is likely to endanger the wild relatives of some of the world's most important food crops, according to a recent study. Using a simulation model, researchers at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research studied the effect of global warming on wild varieties of several crops, including peanuts and potatoes. They determined that 61 percent of wild peanut species analyzed and 12 percent of wild potato species analyzed could become extinct in the next 50 years. Plant breeders often tap into the rich genetic diversity of wild species for traits allowing crops to adapt to harsh conditions. Wild relatives can contain genes for valuable traits such as drought resistance or insect tolerance. If changes in climate drive wild relatives to extinction, farmers may lose the very genetic resources needed to help our food crops adapt to the same changes. For more information on this topic, visit Biodiversity International's web site."

What are we doing to our food sources? Where is the outrage?