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IRISH FARMERS ASSOCIATION OPPOSES COMMERCIAL RELEASE OF GM CROPS IN IRELAND:
26 April 2004
Speech by Ruaidri Deasy.
Speaking at the Forging a GM Policy for Ireland workshop at the Convergence Festival in Dublin on 26 April 2004, Ruaidhri Deasy, Deputy President of the Irish Farmers Association said "The IFA's stance on GMOs is: Keep GM products out of Ireland. We don't need them. We certainly can't pay for them. And our customers don't want them."
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Pointing out that he is role it to protect and speak for the 85,000 farmers of Ireland, Mr. Deasy said Ireland's GM policy is a very important issue, and that he had seen multinationals corporations like Monsanto in operation in the developing world. "Monsanto don't care; they sit in their plush boardrooms but they don't give a hoot. All they care for is profits. The last thing Monsanto did was to put in the Terminator gene which wipes out the plant's ability to reproduce. That enslaves farmers the world over."
However Deasy said that he would not go so far as to ruling out research by Teagasc, of which is a director. "On the board of Teagasc we have built three new laboratories which are completely enclosed."
"But whatever happens I am convinced that the biggest problem with GMOs is that this technology has been in the wrong hands. Monsanto seems to be Hell-bent on stuffing this GMO technology down our throats. With the royalties and the frightening GM contracts that Monsanto are putting out, the farmer has nowhere to turn: he has to pay the attorney fees, he has to pay everything, and he's put in a very precarious position.
The argument stands up on its own. The majority of the people don't want GMOs."
See full speech.
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