Originally published April 1 2011
International Seed Day advocates for patent-free seeds, organic food, and farmers' rights
by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
(NaturalNews) The fight to preserve food freedom is taking place all over the world as multinational biotechnology companies like Monsanto continue to push for total domination of the world's food supply. Access to heirloom and organic seeds, contaminant-free organic food, and even one's own farmland is threatened by various types of food tyranny legislation currently before governments around the world. But on April 26, 2011, a multitude of organizations, farmers, and health freedom advocates will observe International Seed Day, a day designed to educate the public about food freedom issues and help push back the tide of tyranny.
As many NaturalNews readers already know, the recent passage of S 510 in the US represents a very serious threat to health and food freedom. But what many people may not realize is that many other countries around the world face similar or worse legislation.
In Canada, Bill C-51 threatens to eliminate Canadians' access to a wide variety of natural health products by granting to the government sweeping regulatory control over herbs, vitamins, and natural supplements. It also redefines some key law terms that will essentially criminalize parents who give natural herbs and alternative medicines to their children (http://www.naturalnews.com/023121_health_fre...).
In India, the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) threatens to eliminate people's right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed, and even eat the food of their choice. BRAI will seize control of food from the people and hand it over to multinational biotechnology companies. India's State Agriculture Minister Ramakrishna Kusumaria actually said to The Hindu that the implementation of BRAI "will enslave our agriculture" (http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/articl...).
And in Iraq, administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Paul Bremer has already issued and signed Order 81, a heinous bill that completely eliminates Iraq's traditional "free-to-little-regulated" seed supply system and replaces it with, you guessed it, a system controlled by multinational biotechnology companies. CPA was set up after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and Bremer was tasked with "overseeing the country's reconstruction" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Paul_Bremer).
Apparently, such reconstruction involves eliminating Iraq's former system of freedom that outlawed any form of patented seed ownership by corporations, and instead implementing a biotech-controlled seed system where the common man has no control whatsoever over his own food. Order 81 bans all forms of saving and reusing seeds that have been "claimed" for ownership, and forces farmers to pay royalties year after year to "seed owners."
Be sure to read the full statement from the Institute of Near Eastern & African Studies (INEAS) regarding Order 81, and how the US invasion of Iraq played a crucial role in implementing it and seizing the country's agricultural system.
(http://www.ineas.org/in/pr/20090403isd.htm).
INEAS and several dozen other organizations and individuals are urging the public to inform their local media, friends, and family about not only these food tyranny measures, but also about the threat of genetically-modified organisms in general (http://www.naturalnews.com/GMO.html), and how they serve corporate interests that want nothing more than a complete monopoly over the world's food supply.
To learn more about International Seed Day and how you can help spread the word and make a real difference in fighting against food tyranny, visit:
http://www.ineas.org/in/ev/20090426isdev.htm
Sources for this story include:
http://www.ineas.org/in/ev/20090426isdev.htm
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