GM Crops

Last night’s ride was a blast, over before I knew it. Corty managed a low speed not-looking-where-he-was-going stack into the back of another rider and then unceremoniously toppled over into the road much to the amusement of some on-lookers. Good riding, but I had inexplicably tired legs.

I’ve been meaning to link to these photos for some time. Some very nice photography on show, from some unusual angles too. There’s also some nice mountain biking photos over at Shitshifter. Then there’s this, this is RHS’s site – secretsinglespeeder.

As for Le Tour, well its make or break for Lance tomorrow. Time Trial day followed by the mountains. My money’s still on him, but I reckon this is going to be the closest finish for a few years. As for the rothar.com fantasy team, what a pile of crap. Four of the riders chosen from those on offer don’t even seem to be even riding. Other tan my lack of research and team knowledge, what the hell’s that all about?

Busy day to day, but I reckon I have finally ironed out some of the bugs that have been blighting the site since I made some behind the scenes file structure changes a few days ago. I just wish FTP would work the first time around. Dammit there’s even a guest book up here now.

Following on from yesterday’s post here’s part of my response to the GM Nation debate. I feel that large corporations eager to capitalise on new technological advancements have introduced the issue of GM crops into the contemporary political and public arenas of debate. Pursuit of this goal by well-funded, large multinational corporations has circumvented traditional and approved scientific means of testing.

This has meant that the scientific impacts of the introduction of these crops into the environment, has not been investigated. I am especially concerned that there is the possibility that food free of GM material may become increasingly hard to procure in future due to cross-pollination between species, ultimately leading to a situation where there is no alternative to produce containing GM material.

Whilst I have a good understanding of the potential benefits that genetic engineering may hold for the human race in future, I feel that the wealth being invested in current research could be better spent improving the current growing methods and yields of traditional crops, which are often grown in sub-optimal conditions. I am also concerned that the adoption of GM crops by farmers will lead to long-term risks of dependency on crucial key crops. Past experience has shown reliance on single strains to be fraught with economic and social problems.

It is my personal and informed professional opinion that the continued use of a variety of natural variations within a crop affords a greater chance of a successful harvest and provides more protection against the various forms of possible crop devastation. I feel it is my right to be able to choose GM-free produce in future and at present I do not feel that safeguards are in place that will allow this outcome.