[SustainableTompkins] TAKE ACTION on loss of honeybees!

[Tony Del Plato]

 http://www.sierraclub.org/biotech/whatsnew/whatsnew_2007-04-07.asp
TAKE ACTION on loss of honeybees!
The Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Committee is asking for the science!

Contact Senator Tom Harkin
731 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3254 Phone
(202) 224-9369 Fax

Talking points

Dear Senator Tom Harkin,

One out of every three bites of food that we consume is due to the work of
honeybees, serving as crucial pollinators. Yet food production may be
severely impacted by the recently reported Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
Beekeepers are reporting estimates as high as 80% loss of their honey bee
colonies.

There's a link that's not being investigated. Highly respected scientists
believe that exposure to genetically engineered crops and their
plant-produced pesticides merit serious consideration as either the cause or
a contributory factor to the development and spread of CCD.

This past decade we are seeing releases into the environment that we have
never before seen on this planet. Genetic engineering involves the
artificial transfer of genes from one organism into another, bypassing the
protective barrier between species. Scientists admit that unintended
consequences may occur due to the lack of precision and specificity in the
DNA sites on different plant chromosomes where the inserted genes randomly
end up. According to the prominent biologist Dr. Barry Commoner,
"Genetically engineered crops represent a huge uncontrolled experiment whose
outcome is inherently unpredictable. The results could be catastrophic."

** Senator Harkin, as Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, you are
in a key position to initiate investigations to determine if exposure to
genetically engineered crops or corn syrup is the missing link. Emergency
funding for research needs to be available for scientists who are
independent of commercial influence.

Considering that loss of honeybee pollinators can leave a huge void in the
kitchens of the American people and an estimated loss of 14 billion dollars
to farmers, it would be prudent to use caution. If genetically engineered
crops are killing honeybees, a moratorium on their planting should be
strongly considered.

I support Sierra Club's 3/21/07 correspondence to you.
See: http://www.sierraclub.org/biotech/whatsnew/whatsnew_2007-03-21.asp

Most sincerely,
 XX

_______________________________________________

-- 
And the time came when the risk
to remain tight in a bud
was more painful than the risk
it took to blossom- Anais Nin