Terminator Seeds & SuperWeed
- To: pumpkins@mallorn.com
- Subject: Terminator Seeds & SuperWeed
- From: B* R*
- Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 13:48:35 PST
Hi everyone.
Terminator seeds, SuperWeed... They sound pretty scary. I wrote to
David Emery who maintains a website about hoaxes and urban legends and
such (http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blhoax.htm) after I
failed to find any reference to these topics on his site. I'm
forwarding his response below.
‘Too good to be true' items always deserve a closer look and hard
questions, so too ‘too scary to be true'. I hope we can all sleep a
little easier now knowing our efforts aren't doomed to extinction.
#########
B Rado wrote:
> Good morning!
> Following is a post (& followup) from a horticultural mailing list >I
am on. Please tell me that 'Terminator Seeds' and 'Superweed' are
>urban legends or hoaxes or something. Couldn't find any reference >to
it on your site.
Hi, Beth. This is the first I've heard of "superweeds." It *appears*
that all this is a politically-motivated hoax originating from a group
called the Cultural Terrorist Agency (http://www.irational.org). They
state their methods, in part, like this:
"Cultural terrorism can be defined as an
offensive against dominant systems of
meaning, and their defining of reality and
nature, within the realms of propaganda and
disinformation."
"Propaganda" and "disinformation" are the key words. My working
assumption is that the "superweed" threats are designed to attract
publicity and make a point, but that they're unlikely to be real.
I'll keep an eye on this one.
Thanks for writing!
David
#######################################################
>
> Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 15:53:18 -0800
> From: Patrick Olaris <polaris@WOLFENET.com>
> To: pumpkins@mallorn.com
> Subject: Re: Seed "Terminator" (Must Read !!!)
> Reply-To: pumpkins@mallorn.com
>
>>On Mon, Feb 08, 1999 at 08:24:22PM -0800, harry hurley wrote:
>> Any one interested in growing and saving seeds should read the
>> stuff on these two sites.
>>
>> > http://king.igs.net/~wacoppin/seeds.htm
>> > http://www.sedos.org/Food/terminator.html
>>
Not so long ago when I was younger and slightly more foolish I gave a
speech in a public speaking class in favor of genetic engineering of
crop plants. At the time Genentech was creating frost-resistant
strawberries which seemed harmless, and Jeremy Rifkin seemed like a
crazy luddite. Having seen the uses biotechnology is being put to, like
those above, I am now far, far more cautious. The technology above
needs to be banned world-wide and the people at the USDA and Delta and
Pine Land Company jailed for life for crimes against humanity. This
sort of thing is just unforgivable.
People are really upset. Check out the following article and try to
figure out what our global ecosystem is going to look like twenty years
from now. What do I think it will look like? How can one even make a
guess? But it's sure going to be different. I sure hope cucurbita
maxima with terminator technology in them don't accidentally crossbreed
with and wipe out my ability to save AG seeds.
Shaun in Spokane
#########
GENETICS ACTIVISTS CREATE SUPERWEED
Launch of Natural Reality SuperWeed Kit 1.0
Photo-opportunity
12.00 noon Wednesday 27th January 1999
On Wednesday 27th January 1999, Michael Boorman of Natural
Reality will launch the 'Natural Reality SuperWeed Kit 1.0 - a
DIY kit capable of producing a genetically mutant superweed,
designed to attack corporate monoculture'. Heath Bunting and
Rachel Baker, founders of The Cultural Terrorist Agency [1] who
have financed SuperWeed Kit 1.0 will also speak at the launch in
the Nash Room, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK. The
launch starts at 12:15 noon and will be completed by 13.00.
Natural Reality SuperWeed Kit 1.0 [2], contains a mixture of
naturally occuring and genetically mutated (GM) Brassica seeds
(e.g. Oilseed Rape, Wild Radish, Yellow Mustard, Shepard's
Purse). If these seeds are allowed to germinate and cross
pollinate, a SuperWeed [3] will be created that will be resistant
to current herbicides (e.g. Monsanto's Roundup.), thus not only
threatening the profitability of conventional and GM Brassica
crops [4], but also of herbicide production and distribution.
This kit be will distributed throughout the UK to interested
parties along with tactical suggestions and planting instructions.
If released, SuperWeed 1.0 will not only destroy the
profitability all GM crops, but also of conventional and organic
crops. This genetic contamination will be irreversible.
Michael Boorman is one of the California Croppers who held
football match early Thanksgiving morning at the "Gill Tract"
gardens, California, USA, resulting in the destruction of a crop of
genetically-engineered corn owned by the University of
California, in protest over UC-Berkeley signing a multimillion
dollar research deal with biotech giant Novartis.[5]
Michael Boorman of Natural Reality said "Genetic hacker
technology gives us the means to oppose this unsafe, unnecessary
and unnatural technology. I hope that this SuperWeed Kit will
empower others in their actions. We are engaged in a biological
arms race with corporate monoculture."
Heath Bunting is a well known internet hacker activist
responsible for information subversion campaigns against
organisation such as Glaxo, Nike and 7-Eleven stores. He is a
founder member of irational.org collective [6].
Heath Bunting of irational.org said "Biotechnology is not only the next
battleground on which the control of life and land is fought, but also
on which life itself is redefined. It is essential that the concepts of
property and representation in this arena are seriously challenged."
Rachel Baker is a network activist with a well documented history
of actions against organisations including Sainsbury, Tesco and
American Express. She is also a member of irational.org
collective [6].
Rachel Baker of irational.org said "Millions of ordinary people
are very worried about genetically modified foods and I am one of
them....With genetically modified foods I believe we have reached
the thin edge of the wedge, we are messing with the building
blocks of life and it's scary."
Michael Boorman email: superweed@hotbot.com
Heath Bunting email: jan99@irational.org
Rachel Baker email: rachel@irational.org
Hayvend email: hayvend@backspace.org
SuperWeed Kit 1.0 can also be ordered free of charge by post
directly from the Natural Reality via the internet.
Website: http://pages.hotbot.com/politics/superweed/
--- Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is
the fragile blossom that opens in the snow. -Alice M. Swaim
polaris@wolfenet.com ++ PGP email welcome
>David Emery
>Urban Legends and Folklore
>http://urbanlegends.miningco.com
>Email: urbanlegends.guide@miningco.com
>Newsletter: http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/gi/pages/mmail.htm
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