#Dupont doomsday vault free#

Inside, it holds one of the world's largest collections of seeds, genetic material for livestock, microbes and endangered plants under highly sophisticated lock and key. From the outside it may not look like a bastion of the American agriculture industry. Just a friendly welcome video playing in the lobby and a warm-natured receptionist behind a desk, who hands you a clipboard with a sign-in sheet.Д«ut that doesn't mean the center is lax on security. It's a nondescript, beige building just off the quad at Colorado State University. Officially, the Fort Collins facility is called the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation. But the investigation raises the question of how secure these seed vaults actually are.

Department of Agriculture spokesman says all of Monsanto's 1,500 pounds of wheat seeds held at the vault were incinerated a year and a half ago at the corporation's request. The facility has been cleared of wrongdoing since then. A flurry of initial finger-pointing cast potential blame on a federal seed vault in Fort Collins, Colo., which housed the same strain of wheat, developed by Monsanto Corp., for about seven years up until late 2011. The opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of their institutions or of AFD.When unapproved genetically modified wheat was found growing in Oregon earlier this year, it didn't take long for accusations to start flying. Activism against GMOs, distribution of patent-free seeds to Indian peasants and trials for biopiracy are at the heart of Indian ecologist Vandana ShivaвЂ™s life вЂ“ a life dedicated to the protection of her countryвЂ™s agrobiodiversity. Numerous voices are raised against the companies that hybridize, sterilize, patent and privatize seeds.

#Dupont doomsday vault free#

Having different types of seeds within a crop creates a natural barrier against pests and diseases вЂ“ the productivity of agroecological farms, free of GMOs, proves this to be true every day. In 2014, family farms produced 80% of the food consumed in the world: they are much more efficient than industrial farming. The promises to end world hunger thanks to modified seeds have been proven wrong: GMOs will not save the agriculture and food industry of developing countries. As globalization standardizes the ways we live, indigenous food disappears very quickly, and with it, the diets that guaranteed a good health.Дevelopment news When will world hunger end? ID4D You reap what you sow (alternatively) In 2011, the FAO explained how devastating the homogenization of diets induced by seed company monopolies can be. The loss in biodiversity caused by these privatizations impacts peopleвЂ™s health and even provokes diet-related chronic diseases. African NGO INADES fears a вЂњstranglehold of biotechnologies on food cultures that are essential to millions of people.вЂќ According to these corporations, their high-yield, optimized seeds will oversee the end of world hunger вЂ“ and this promise serves to impose these seeds to developing countries, with the help of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.ДЄfter having severely hurt Burkina FasoвЂ™s cotton industry, the American company Monsanto aims to handle the issue of food in sub-Saharan Africa, by breeding its own genetically altered sorghum and bean. Patenting life is one of the strategies used by corporations to privatize food, and this poses a major threat to world food security. It is largely financed by the giants of the seed industry. This reserve is supposed to resist the worst disasters and allow for the rebuilding of crops in case of a world catastrophe. These few examples of seed company practices explain in part the mistrust expressed towards the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a world reserve in Norway where 6000 seed species are kept. With little to no respect for the laws opposing biopiracy either: attempts were made by an American company to patent Basmati rice in 1997, genetically modified vegetables were produced from Indian indigenous varieties by Monsanto in 2011вЂ¦ Through company mergers and acquisitions and by patenting seeds, these three giants have built a world monopoly on seeds, with little to no respect for farming communities, as proven by the green revolution of the 1960s in India, or its more recent African version. This situation is very profitable for the three corporations that own nearly 60% of the seed world market: Monsanto-Bayer, Dupont-Dow and Syngenta-ChemChina. Opinion Rethinking nutritional policies in developing countries taking into account the double burden of malnutrition StГ©phane BesanГ§on, HГ©lГЁne Delisle, Marion Nestle The Seed Monopoly podium