Showing posts with label transparency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label transparency. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 March 2013

Day 204: Food Monopoly and Equal Money Capitalism

For full article, please read:
GMOs, again…
http://www.b-fair.net/?p=5605



1. No health safety testing

Genetically engineered (GE) foods have never been safety tested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), thanks to a 20-year-old policy that says it’s up to the biotech companies to determine the safety of genetically engineered (GE) foods. So while all other developed countries require safety testing for GE plants, the government agency in charge of protecting U.S. citizens lets biotech companies, who stand to make billions in profits from GE foods, conduct their own “voluntary safety consultations.”


2. No labeling

If the FDA isn’t going to test GE foods for safety, the least it could do is require labeling, so people can choose to avoid GMOs if they want. But so far, the FDA has rejected labeling under the controversial argument that GE foods are “substantially equivalent” to their non-genetically engineered counterparts.

 The U.S. and Canada stand alone as the only two industrialized countries yet to provide citizens the fundamental, democratic right to know what’s in the food they eat and feed their children.

The FDA’s refusal to support this basic right stands in direct defiance of the overwhelming will of the American people. The FDA has received over a million petitions from concerned citizens demanding that GMOs be labeled – the most received on any issue in the Agency’s history. The most recent poll shows that the overwhelming majority – 82 percent – of Americans want mandatory labeling laws. But our calls for transparency continue to fall on deaf ears.

Failure to label GMOs forces consumers to serve as test subjects for a massive GMO experiment, and makes it nearly impossible to trace health issues back to their source. It also prevents small farmers, the organics industry, and truly natural food producers from competing on an equal playing field.

5. Privatizing seeds

The FDA’s love affair with Monsanto has led to the privatization, and patenting, of the very source of life: seeds. Monsanto is allowed to sell its patented genetically engineered (GE) “Roundup Ready” soybean seeds, and other patented seeds, to farmers under a contract that prohibits the farmers from saving the next-generation seeds and replanting them. Farmers who buy Monsanto’s GE seeds are required to buy new seeds every year. Monsanto then sells the same farmers its proprietary pesticides, like Roundup, that can be sprayed in huge amounts on Monsanto’s patented Roundup Ready crops, killing everything except the GE plants.

It’s a win-win for Monsanto. But everybody else loses.



In an Equal Money System, Food will be a Basic Human Right. Food will no longer be detrimentally linked to money, where money decides the availability and quality of food and transparency of information. Food will no longer be tool for Profit but a Source of Life.

Within being put central to Life -- the development and growth of food will be in a such a way to support one's Human Body and support the Equilibrium of Life on Earth.

Different ways will have to be considered in terms of what additional tools can be used as to minimize harmful effects of agriculture on the land, air and ocean -- a holistic view will have to be applied.

Foodstuffs such as seeds, will not be able to be owned by anyone other than the Earth. It comes from the Earth – it makes no sense to claim it as one’s own and to create a monopoly around it. As such, seeds will simply be available.

Food labeling will be transparent and clear - so everyone will know exactly what it is they are getting and what went into the production of the specific food.

Food security will be guaranteed. Food will fulfil its role as Life Support and will be able to be enjoyed to its fullest potential. Starvation and Famine will be eradicated and all people will have access to their specific nutritional requirements to live their life to its utmost potential.

 
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Friday, 28 December 2012

Day 162: EQUAL MONEY CAPITALISM - The Way Forward

Equal Money Capitalism

Equal Money Capitalism will be the necessary transition step to as a global society towards establishing an Equal Money System as presented at www.equalmoney.org.

We are thus here starting a project of investigating what Capitalism should be like according to its very own principles - and thus, what requires to be adjusted within the current Capitalistic system to make it a system that works for everyone.

Within this first blog-post, we will give a rough outline of the points that will be taken under consideration and worked out into further detail as we go.

Employment

One of the current problems is unemployment. Employment is the means through which each one acquires the means with which to sustain themselves - as, in return for one's contribution, one receives an income. Therefore - full employment is not a negotiable subject - because if one is not employed, one loses all means of supporting oneself.

Capital as Life

At the moment - capital is referred to as intermediary goods - such as machinery and warehouses. Within Equal Money Capitalism - capital will refer to Life and include resources and people. Therefore - to value capital, means to value Life - and thus, all capital and all Life should be valued equally. For this - full employment is again a necessity.

Free Stuff

Within Equal Money Capitalism no free stuff will exist. This is one of the basic principles within economics (and physics) - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (TANSTAAFL). With anything that is produced or consumed - there is always a cost. If this cost is not represented and considered within the pricing of the particular good or product, one is in fact stealing. Currently, free stuff is used to compete for consumers at the cost of the labour force creating the goods - because they will be paying the difference.

Informed Decision-Making

Within Capitalism, the assumption is made that the consumer always has full knowledge available about the products they can buy - and thus, that they are always able to make informed decisions about the purchases they make - and that this mechanism, therefore - makes it so that only the best quality products are bought and stimulated to be produced, while inferior products will phase out. Obviously - this is currently not the case. The only point that is shared (and not even that comprehensively) is the ingredients. Labelling within Equal Money Capitalism will include not only ingredients, but also how the price was established - who contributed to the production process, what share of the profit goes to these participants - what are the externalities involved in terms of the harm that was caused towards the environment in the form of pollution and what resources were involved to produce the product, etc.

Equal Profit Share

Each contributor to a product will receive an Equal Share of the Profits. Herein, it is irrelevant how much time someone spent in contributing to the production of the good - what is relevant is the end product and whether the product would exist without the various contributors.

This will be an exciting time as we expand this proposal and develop it into an implementable system. So - stay tuned and visit http://www.quora.com/EMCapitalism to place any questions you may have.
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