Amberwaves

[Guest guest]

Amberwaves

 

Leading the Campaign to Save Natural Rice and Wheat

http://www.cybermacro.com/articles26.html

 

 

Amberwaves

 

Alex Jack

P.O. Box 487, Becket, MA 01223

Tel (413) 623-0012

Fax (413) 623-6042

 

Email: shenwa

 

 

 

For Immediate Release, May 24th 2001

 

Amberwaves Calls for a Moratorium on Genetically Engineered Rice Following

Destruction of 5 Millions Pounds of GE Rice in Texas

 

Becket, Mass.—Amberwaves, a network of concerned citizens, families, farms, and

businesses devoted to preserving natural and organic rice and wheat from the

potential hazards of genetic engineering, supported the decision of Aventis

Cropscience to destroy 5 million pounds of Liberty Rice this week in Texas, the

first genetically engineered (GE) rice produced in the United States. The

grassroots organization, with branches “from sea to shining sea,” has asked for

a moratorium on growing GE rice, wheat, and other grains and called upon the

nation’s major food producers to pledge not to use GE staples in their products,

pending comprehensive studies of the impact of GE grains on human health and the

environment.

 

“America’s destiny is intertwined with preserving amber waves of grain, spacious

skies, and other expressions of natural beauty,” stated Alex Jack, president of

Amberwaves and a teacher and author based in western Massachusetts. “GE rice

threatens to contaminate conventional and organic crops, release potentially

harmful organisms into the environment, and imperil the livelihood of America’s

farmers and their families.”

 

“GE rice also threatens wildlife,” continues Jack, a faculty member of the Kushi

Institute and author of Imagine a World Without Monarch Butterflies: Awakening

to the Hazards of Genetically-Altered Foods and over twenty-five books on diet,

health, and the environment. “Nearly 200 species of animals live in America’s

rice fields, including 141 species of birds, 28 mammals, and 24 amphibians and

reptiles. Thirty of these species are threatened or endangered. No other crop in

the world provides benefit for so much wildlife as rice.”

 

Liberty Rice (also known as LibertyLink) is made by Aventis, the same company

that introduced StarLink Corn, the unapproved GE corn that inadvertently got

into the human food chain last year and is reportedly contaminating conventional

and organic corn around the country. While approved for human consumption by the

U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture, Liberty

Rice was treated with glufosinate (which carries the trade name Liberty), an

herbicide that has not been approved for rice (though it has been approved for

corn, cotton, and rapeseed) by the Environmental Protection Agency. Aventis said

that it could have kept the rice in storage pending approval by the EPA, but

according to Peg Cherny, a company spokesperson, Aventis “didn’t want to create

an issue.” Nor have foreign countries approved Liberty Rice, and Aventis worried

that it might be held liable if it were shipped overseas. This week, 95

truckloads of Liberty Rice, containing 2272 metric tons,

will be buried in a landfill in southeast Texas.

 

“While Aventis made the right decision not to release the crop, the Liberty

debacle in Texas raises serious environmental questions,” adds educator Edward

Esko, vice president of Amberwaves and author of Healing Planet Earth. “Like

nuclear waste, contaminated crops must be disposed of properly.”

 

Amberwaves’ new book, Saving Organic Rice, edited by Jack and Esko, includes

articles by Dr. Vandana Shiva, the Indian scientist; Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, the British

geneticist; Paul Hawken, the social activist and author of Natural Capitalism,

and other prominent scientists and educators on the potentially harmful effects

of GE rice. These include reduced nutrition, increased vitamin A toxicity,

increased allergens and toxins, use of increased pesticides and chemicals,

emergence of new disease-resistant weeds, emergence of new viral diseases, loss

of biodiversity, and a threat to sustainable agriculture.

 

Until now, Amberwaves’ main focus has been protecting natural rice in the

Sacramento Valley in California, where 80% of the organic rice in the United

States is produced. Monsanto and other biotech companies have announced plans to

convert up to half of the rice in California to GE varieties in the next decade.

Last summer, Greenpeace issued a special environmental report, California at the

Crossroads, that warned, “If current trends in the genetic engineering of

California’s major export crops continue, the state’s producers could be facing

.. . . the potential collapse of its organic food industry.”

 

Amberwaves board member Michael Potter, chairman and president of Eden Foods, a

pioneer natural foods company based in Michigan, contends that “it is arrogant

to think that a scientist can make food better by manipulating DNA. It is far

more likely that this tampering will limit the expression of the genetic

potentialities of life. Recklessly releasing new man-made, untested organisms

into our environment may lead to surprising, devastating results, and has

already caused enormous economic damage.”

 

Amberwaves is currently circulating a petition that calls upon every American to

declare his or her opposition to GE grains and “preserve natural rice, wheat,

and other essential foods for my children, grandchildren, and future

generations. Through my food choices, I will strive to keep America and the

planet beautiful, healthy, and peaceful.”

 

“Surveys consistently show that the vast majority of the American people want GE

foods to be properly regulated, tested, and labeled,” Alex Jack concluded.

“Amber waves of grain or altered waves of grain—the choice is up to us.”

 

Copies of Saving Organic Rice are available for $6.95 each plus $3.00 postage

and handling from Amberwaves, P.O. Box 487, Becket, MA 01223, Tel/fax (413)

623-6042.

 

— 30 —

 

Note to Writers and Editors:

 

This article may be reprinted in whole or part or incorporated into news

articles with or without attribution. Please send Amberwaves a printed or email

copy for our files.

 

Amberwaves’ spokespersons are available for comment or continuing coverage of GE

rice, wheat, or other foods; organic foods and farming; and related issues.

 

Review copies of Saving Organic Rice are available upon request. Review copies

are also available of Imagine a World Without Monarch Butterflies by Alex Jack

with a foreword by Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich, sponsor of the GE Right to

Know Bill in Congress.

 

For further information, contact:

 

Alex Jack, president, Amberwaves

 

305 Brooker Hill Rd.

 

Becket, MA 01223

 

Tel (413) 623-0012 • Fax (413) 623-6042

 

email: shenwa

 

Edward Esko, vice-president, Amberwaves

 

12050 Hogan Road

 

Clinton, MI 49236

 

Tel (517) 456-6941 • Fax (517) 456-8154

 

Michael Potter, President, Eden Foods

 

701 Tecumseh Road

 

Clinton, MI 49236

 

Tel (517) 456-7424 • Fax (517) 456-6075

 

email: administration

 

Click To Become Involved in Saving Organic Rice, Wheat, and other Essential

Foods

_________________

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mrsjoguest

DietaryTipsForHBP

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes

 

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

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