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Genetically Modified Canola Spreads To Wild Plants
eldavojohn writes "A research team conducting a survey has found that about 86% of wild canola plants in North Dakota have genetically modified genes in them, and 'two samples contained multiple genes from different species of genetically modified plants.' Canola usually has little competition when cultivated but does not fare well in the wild. The Roundup Ready and Liberty Link strains of genetically modified canola appear to be crossing over to wild plants and helping it survive. The University of Arkansas team claims that the ease in which genetically modified canola has 'escaped' into the wild should be noted by seed makers like Monsanto because this is proof that it will happen."
Reader n4djs notes that Monsanto has been known to sue farmers for patent infringement when their crops unintentionally contain genetically modified plants.
It seems there's a whiny article about Monsanto on every website I read these days. GMO crops are here to stay because they're necessary to feed all the people in the world. Deal with it.
Neither USSR nor Vietnam nor China were communist, and didn't refer to themselves as such. They were officially "socialist, working towards communism sometime in the future".
Unofficially, it's arguable whether e.g. USSR was socialist, and if so, in which time period. Socialism is common ownership of means of productions, so it all boils down to whether the state (and the Party which ran it) was truly representative of the majority of people. I'd say it was, in the first decade or so after the revolution. Later on, it devolved into what some call "state capitalism" - when state owns the means of production (hence the "state" part), but still uses them as a capitalist would, to exploit the labor of workers to whom it provides those means to use by taking away part of the surplus value they generate (hence the "capitalism" part).
The modern Western welfare state isn't socialism. It's regulated capitalism.
Last I checked, all Scandinavian states still allow me to buy a factory - presuming I have enough money - and run it to turn as much profit as I can manage while staying within the law. That's private ownership of means of production, which is capitalist in my book. Yes, they have large taxes on high income brackets, and yes, they have strong anti-monopoly and other consumer protection laws, but that's precisely what I mean by "regulated capitalism". The core idea of owning the tools, and making money from them by renting them off to people who can actually use them to do something useful (for a monthly fee called "salary") is fully intact.