Activists cite film in Boulder County beet battle
Boulder debates whether it should OK farming the genetically altered crop.
By Monte Whaley The Denver Post
Posted: 07/28/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT
Activists hope a film that attacks agricultural and biotechnical giant Monsanto will persuade public officials to block the cultivation of genetically modified sugar beets on Boulder County open space.
"The World According to Monsanto" will premier tonight at the Nomad Theater, 1410 Quince Ave. in Boulder.
Transition Colorado, which promotes self-reliance in energy and food, and Chelsea Green Publishing are sponsoring the showing.
The groups say the documentary provides important context as the county debates whether to allow six local farmers to grow Monsanto's Roundup-Ready sugar beets on 960 acres of county-owned land.
But county officials say using the Monsanto product reduces toxicity from herbicide applications, lowers energy and fuel consumption and increases soil and water conservation. The county also needs to keep the six farmers — whose families have worked the county soil for generations — economically viable. They are competing in a market where 95 percent of the country's sugar beet crops are genetically modified. Link
The people that continue to degrade modern agriculture techniques, such as the use of GMO’s, live by the Precautionary Principle. That states that you shouldn’t do something if there is any chance that a negative outcome could occur. I don’t know how they manage to leave their house in the morning since they could get hit by a car. GMO’s have been proven safe using the best available science. If consumers don’t want to eat them, they have that choice. But many people on this planet are concerned about if they will have food to eat today, not the production practices used to grow it.
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