Slashdot Mirror

They were a secondary, less well-known product made from this very popular item. The bubbles improved cushioning and back support.

"Linksys (...) devices are made by Sercomm, meaning that Cisco, Watchguard, Belkin (...)"

It reminds me that scary graph where half a dozen companies control almost all the stuff you see on supermarket shelves. I remember reading nice fairy tales in school about open markets, and fair and diverse competition being paramount to the western economic model...

Sorta like these conglomerates? Just to name a few :)

• ConAgra
• Kraft
• Nestle
• Proctor&Gamble
• Diageo

Nestlé being Nestle.

GM crops with increased yield help no matter what the cause is.

Better transportation not GE is needed.

Famine though plant blight is common, and GE is the best way to get rid of it.

Not even, the best way to combat blight is with diversity. When a monoculture is hit by blight or something else the whole crop can be lost. But that's not true when fields are diverse. Take for instance cocoa, ScienceDaily has the article New Cocoa Varieties Needed to Secure World's Chocolate Supply. Scientists at University of Reading are working to "develop new cocoa varieties better suited to likely future climates." Meanwhile Nestle is supplying cocoa farmers with disease resistant cocoa varieties. With 4 main varieties of cocoa people are working to create hybrids.

http://www.africanagricultureblog.com/2010/01/gates-foundation-to-fund-cassava.html

That says nothing about genetic engineering. The 2 tymes "gene" is even mentioned is when it says they are looking for desired genes in resistant varieties of cassava. All that's needed is crossbreeding and hybrids. No fish genes need to be inserted.

But more importantly, there are many areas of the world where the problem isn't caloric, but nutritional. Golden rice is the poster child for this. Lack of vitamin A leads to blindness and death, so adding it to the rice in places where that is the staple diet can save many.

All that's needed for this is to eat crops that have the needed nutrients. For vitamin A, carrots. Carrots are filled with beta carotene which is a precursor to vitamin A. The NIH has more food sources for vitamin A. The percent of RDA is also included. And again as the BBC article GM 'golden rice' boosts vitamin A says "Not everyone believes golden rice is the best answer to Vitamin A deficiency."

For instance I am afraid Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops are creating superweeds [france24.com].

Pesticide use made that problem(if it turns out to be one), not GE. Without GE other pesticides would be used, and pesticide resistant plants would evolve.

That just goes to show how much you know. Pesticides had nothing to do with the creation of superweeds.

Bye

Falcon

Well there are dangers involved with micro-organisms in the composts and manures used to fertilize organic fields; real country-folks usually have well developed immune systems and have no problems but city-slickers especially those with compromised immune systems can get life threatening infections.

Since so called conventional farming causes the same thing I don't consider that a valid argument. I doubt the breakout was localized to rural communities when Taco Bell had contaminated food.

Likewise, Peter's Chocolate is an excellent chocolate. It too is owned by a conglomerate. But the chocolate is still excellent, especially if you taste what can be produced using such chocolate. I worked at Boehm's for about 3 years, I've never since tasted such exquisite chocolate.

There was another article today on Reuters Health pointing out that coffee was chock full of antioxidants.

Yep. However, that study was funded by Nestlé, makers of Nescafé Coffee, as well as Dallmayr, Zoegas and Loumidis.

Both studies may be correct, but isn't there a small chance the one from the coffee maker is biased? :-)

In any event, I'm not giving up coffee any time soon, regardless.