Cornell Report - Industry Response

[Kathleen Moon]

"Chris J. Durden" wrote:
> 
> >Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 09:41:23 -0500
> 
> >  This is difficult for someone without legal background to comprehend.
> 
> Do we have to wait for our (common) assets to be damaged before we can sue
> the offender for damages? Can we anticipate expected damage and sue for an
> injunction not to damage? Are our (common) assets unprotected against
> accidents generated by private enterprise? Under Napoleonic Law engineers
> and geologists have been charged with the death of villagers drowned by the
> collapse of a dam which the geologists had advised on and the engineers had
> sited (Northern Italy). Under American law we have a different history of
> corporate and professional liability. What will international law look like
> in the case of the Canadian-US-Mexican-claimed monarch if it is adversely
> affected by change in private agricultural practices?
>
> >These questions are beyond my expertise. Someone who knows the law -
> >please pick this up!
> >
> >At 09:53  26/05/99 -0400, you wrote:
> >>
> >>>Personally I think those upsetting the status quo (ie: the bio-ag
> >>>commercial interests) should be required to pay for this research.
> >>
> >>>.........Chris Durden

1/ Look at the recent news: in the recent breast-implant case, Dow was
held responsible (at least to a certain extent), and, as I recall, paid
big-time.  Of course silcosis and similar conditions in humans are not
the same as infections and death in one or more insect species caused by
Bt-tainted pollen, but the cause-and-effect relationship and whether the
basic research was done properly or not is still the underlying
question.

2/ Should we be tampering with Nature like this in the first place?  In
my opinion, the answer is a resounding "NO!!"

3/ Mention has been made of the insecticides this technology will
supposedly be replacing.  I agree that we should not be using chemicals
like DDT, Malathion and any number of others that have been blamed for
all sorts of problems.  I need only think back to the Malathion spraying
of some years back here in a large part of southern California.  Huge
portions of the Los Angeles metropolitan area were srayed from
helicopters against the ash white fly and the Meditteranean fruit fly,
sometimes more than once; the result was that when the insect population
started to recover from this assault, of course, what few aphids (keep
in mind that they were not at all a target species by any stretch of the
imagination) were left or managed to find a way to recolonize the area
sprayed recovered like gangbusters.  Where were the aphids' predators
(lacewings, ladybugs, etc)?  Killed off, like everything else, by the
spraying.  They recolonized the area too, but much more slowly,
resulting in a bumper crop of aphids on every plant in sight (or so it
seemed) that sucked sap with the highest level of impunity since the
proverbial "Day One".

Given disasters like that, I think it should be obvious that we need to
do our homework before taking such action.  Of course, someone will have
some kind of comeback.  Fine.  Come one, come all.  Just make sure that
you don't live in a glass house (someone else will surely come along
with a weapon of some kind or a spy camera).  :-)

As for alternatives, try encouraging the local wildlife (especially
birds and lizards) to come in and control your pest insects for you. 
They don't even cost anything more than maybe a puddle to drink from -
just make sure the puddle is not in the same place long enough for a
mosquito population to set up shop.  If you have a stream nearby,
especially a year-round one, make sure it is not polluted and there is a
pond where frogs and toads can breed (if the water flows through it a
fairly good clip, you won't get many mosquitos).  All they need is about
30-50 square feet about three inches to a foot deep, with some shallow
areas on the sides, and algae (which will probably be brought in by some
bird or something else (or the wind?), if not by the water itself.

Pierre A Plauzoles
ae779 at lafn.org
(using my wife's Internet access due to technical difficulties with my
own)