Articolo: Monsanto, and GMO Terminator Cannabis

[KGB]

Altro articolo:

http://topinfopost.com/2014/02/04/ma...a-gmo-cannabis

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Producing genetically modifed products can increase yield or add resistance to pests for some crops. Cannabis is largely resistant to pests, and does not need pesticides or herbicides to grow. But, if large corporations distribute GMO marijuana, it will provide them the abilty to patent and control the production of cannabis.

In the event of widespread distribution of GMO cannabis, a different legal problem will present itself. Will farmers be allowed to grow marijuana that is not genetically modified? Federal law requires some farmers to purchase “Round-Up Ready” seeds from Monsanto every year. One farmer recently received eight years in prison for saving seed from one year’s crop to plant the following spring, which lost a sale for the food manufacturer. Monsanto is already investing in research and development of GMO marijuana. Farmers may be able to grow marijuana in the next few years, but soon after that, they may be branded criminals for not growing GMO strains.

Some observers believe large pharmaceutical companies are already growing vast fields of GMO marijuana, preparing for the end of cannabis prohibition in the near future.

One has to wonder if the current debate on health effects of cannabis will soon change to a debate pitting GMO against organic varieties.

fonti:

Is Monsanto Ready to Enter The Medical Marijuana War?

Why We Must Ban GM Cannabis

US Patent Pending for Genetically Modified Marijuana

Marijuana, Monsanto, and you


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Genetically modified medpot?
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1322.html
[...] "Scheduled labs around the country which are already growing marijuana are using seeds from the University of Mississippi," reported the official. "The genetics come from Monsanto."[...]

[...]Pender eventually suggested that the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which also gets its cannabis from the University of Mississippi, might be a source for contracted growers looking to buy licit seeds. If the unnamed source at the Ministry of Health is correct, all of these seeds would originally have come from Monsanto.[...]

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Monsanto's marijuana

The US-based Monsanto corporation became infamous last year when the public discovered that the huge pharmaceutical company was responsible for producing Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, for producing and selling Roundup to be sprayed on South American villages, for experimenting with dangerous genetically modified foods, and ? most recently ? for creating the dreaded "terminator" seed.

Terminator seeds are genetically engineered to produce a plant that will not produce viable seed, meaning that growers would be forced to go back to Monsanto each year to buy more seed stock to replant. Governments and public alike became wary of the concept when it was discovered that the terminator seed could possibly cross the species barrier, possibly spreading infertility among the plant kingdom like a disease.

Cannabis seeds from Monsanto are almost definitely genetically engineered. Genetically engineered plants can be patented, and it is in Monsanto's best interest to hold a patent on any seed they sell. Seed patents ensure that companies like Monsanto can continue to profit from seeds from year to year, as farmers are legally bound to buy patented seeds from the patent holder rather than simply store them from the last year's crop.[...]

Pharmaceutical schwag

Interestingly, low-potency pot of the kind produced by Monsanto seeds at the University of Mississippi is exactly the kind of product the Ministry of Health is asking for from contractors. The guidelines ask specifically for "standardized marijuana cigarettes with THC content of between 4% and 6% and weighing [about] 850 mg."

Which means the cigarettes to be used for clinical trials will be phatties containing over three-quarters of a gram of schwag bud each! These fat joints will deliver about twice the tar per dose as marijuana currently available from experienced growers, which reaches between 8-10% THC.

The Health Canada document seems concerned that smoking can cause harm, and promises to explore other methods soon after the initial trials are run. Yet the product they choose to use is guaranteed to maximize the risks and problems associated with smoking. Could it be that the Ministry of Health is creating its own excuse not to use smoking as a delivery method?

Our anonymous source within the ministry assures us that the government plans to eventually only allow the use of inhalers, similar to asthma inhalers.

"The inhaler gets rid of any small industry that might develop, by regulating the delivery system. The other idea that didn't go through was to develop a seed system that would allow cultivars from across Canada which would then be grandfathered. What this means is that once the cultivated varieties were tested they would be introduced just the same as if they had been genetically modified."

Patented seeds and dose delivery methods could mean complete pharmaceutical control of medicinal cannabis sometime in the near future.