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Northwest Resistance Against Genetic Engineering (NW RAGE) is a non-violent, grassroots organization dedicated to promoting the responsible, sustainable and just use of agriculture and science. We are working towards a ban on genetic engineering and patents on life. Our efforts focus on education, community building, advocacy and action.
NW RAGE works with neighbors, teachers, farmers and
friends to stop the reckless splicing and dicing of our genetic material.
We are not anti-science, we are pro-precautionary principle. We believe in a future that strives to do no harm to humans and to the ecosystems we all depend on. We believe in proceeding with new technologies only if a well informed civil society decides to do so after proper testing has been conducted.
Our activities range from postcard and letter writing, to education presentations,
to debates and public forums, to protests and direct action. We strongly believe that, in spite of the dangers of genetic engineering, people working together for change can and are making a difference in preventing this unnecessary and unsustainable technology from causing any further harm.
We warmly invite you to bring your voice and join in the struggle!
NW RAGE promotes active resistance to the intrusion of genetic engineering into our
lives, food and ecosystems. We are against corporate ownership of life. We believe so-called
"life science" corporations, like Monsanto and Dow, are attempting to privatize, patent
and own life to create huge profits and monopolies while ignoring the sanctity of creation.
We work to ban the release of genetically engineered organisms through education,
advocacy and action. We also work to promote sustainable agriculture through
activities like partnerships with organic associations and seed swaps. We see this
as a vibrant and viable future for life on the planet.
We work towards:
- A ban on genetic engineering
- A ban on patents on any life forms including animals, plants, cells, viruses, bacteria, genes, and proteins
- A ban on biopiracy - the theft of indigenous people's genes and knowledge
- A ban on cloning of humans and animals
- A rescinding of all current FDA approvals for genetically engineered products on the market
- An increase in the scale and scope of organic agriculture
- An increase in funding for research into organic agriculture and chemical-free growing techniques
- The cessation of factory farming Some steps you can take to get involved and to make a positive difference in your community:
- Sign up for our monthly newsletter so you can get more information and stay connected (see "Subscribe..." on the top left). Click here to see our privacy policy.
- Join us for our public meeting & screening of movies relating to Genetic Engineering and discussion on how you can help to promote a safe and sustainable food supply. Details here.
- Call us (503-239-6841) or email us (info@nwrage.org) if you have questions or comments.
- Send a tax-free donation.
Get involved now!! NW RAGE is one of the few groups in the Northwest working on the issue of genetic engineering, and we need your help!
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The Alice community, living in the Eastern Cape area of South Africa, in close collaboration with the African Center for Biosafety and supported by the Berne Declaration (Switzerland), the Church Development Service (Germany) and "Kein Patent auf Leben" (Germany), has challenged two European patents granted to the German company Schwabe Pharmaceuticals. Both patents are based on two pelargonium species that occur in the wild in South Africa. The Patents are seen as an illegitimate and illegal monopolisation of a genetic resource from Southern Africa and the traditional knowledge of the communities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
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Posted on Thursday, May 08, 2008
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If you have heard of Learfield Communications, it is probably from listening to college football and basketball games.
The Jefferson City, Missouri based Learfield is one of the nation's largest broadcasters of college sports.
But it also produces news programming heard throughout the farm belt.
Learfield was started 35 years ago by Clyde Lear and Derry Brownfield.
Lear went on to be the chairman of the company. He bought out his friend and partner Brownfield in 1985.
Brownfield went on to do market news reports for the Learfield news division until 1997 or so, when he started broadcasting a daily call-in show called The Common Sense Coalition.
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Posted on Thursday, May 08, 2008
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NEW DELHI: Farmers today demanded a complete ban on genetically modified (GM) crops and food in India saying it would not only affect humans and livestocks, but also soil and environment.
Protesting against GM crops in the national capital, farmers under the banner of ’Coalition for a GM-Free India’ voiced against government’s decision to allow field trials of bt brinjal in the country.
Addressing the farmers, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said that GM crops are yet another attempt by corporates to take over Indian agriculture. He exhorted farmers to resist it forcefully.
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Posted on Thursday, May 08, 2008
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Crown Research Institute Scion’s claim that its research shows that GE trees are environmentally safe is seriously misleading, according to the Soil & Health Association of NZ.
Soil & Health also believes that aspects of the GE pine tree field trial at Rotorua were continuously in breach of consent conditions and international obligations, for the trial’s entire life.
Scion has issued a media report stating that its research based on its field trial shows no gene transference into insects and micro-organisms by GE trees and consequently genetically engineered trees are safe.
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Posted on Tuesday, May 06, 2008
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Speculators blamed for driving up price of basic foods as 100 million face severe hunger
Giant agribusinesses are enjoying soaring earnings and profits out of the world food crisis which is driving millions of people towards starvation, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. And speculation is helping to drive the prices of basic foodstuffs out of the reach of the hungry.
The prices of wheat, corn and rice have soared over the past year driving the world’s poor – who already spend about 80 per cent of their income on food – into hunger and destitution.
The World Bank says that 100 million more people are facing severe hunger. Yet some of the world’s richest food companies are making record profits. Monsanto last month reported that its net income for the three months up to the end of February this year had more than doubled over the same period in 2007, from $543m (£275m) to $1.12bn. Its profits increased from $1.44bn to $2.22bn.
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Posted on Tuesday, May 06, 2008
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mmAgriculture in Northern Ghana accounts for more than 90% of household incomes and employs more that 70% of the population in the region. Most of the agricultural production is by small-holders at subsistence level, reliant on seasonal rainfall which is unpredictable and sporadic. During the dry season much of the population is idle, forcing people to migrate to the more prosperous southern parts of the country where they are employed in menial jobs.
Rural communities who are desperate for incomes are enticed by developers who promise them a "better future" under the guise of jobs with the argument that they are currently only just surviving from the "unproductive land" and that they stand to earn a regular income if they give up the land for development. This argument fails to appreciate the African view of the meaning of the land to the community. While the initial temptation to give up the land to earn a wage is great, it portends of an ominous future where the community's sovereignty, identity and their sense of community is lost because of the fragmentation that the community will suffer.
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Posted on Tuesday, May 06, 2008
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The Health Ministry will not allow the release of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in Pulau Ketam, Selangor in a bid to combat the dengue scourge.
Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said the ministry would conduct another study to find other ways of carrying out the research, which is being conducted by the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) and a company partly owned by the University of Oxford.
”It is research which has been proven successful in the laboratory. But we will conduct another study.
”We will not release the mosquitoes because the findings are still at research-level,” he said when asked about the proposed Pulau Ketam study.
Liow was speaking to reporters after attending the national-level World Health Day launch in Dewan 2020 here.
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Posted on Monday, May 05, 2008
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Greenpeace today confirmed the presence of illegal Genetically Modified [GM] food in India at a press conference. Tests conducted at an independent laboratory on products picked up randomly from a supermarket in New Delhi has revealed that Pepsico’s Doritos Corn Chips contain genetically modified Mon 863 and NK 603 variety corn ingredients. [1]
Both Mon 863 and NK 603 are Monsanto’s genetically modified corn varieties. Mon 863 has a bacterial gene to give pest tolerance, while NK 603 has a bacterial gene for herbicide tolerance. An Independent analysis last year, done by the Committee for Independent Research and Information On Genetic Engineering [Crii-Gen] lead by Prof Gilles Eric Seralini, a member of the French National Committee For Risk Assessment of GMOs had concluded that both Mon 863 and NK 603 pose serious health impacts [2]. The debate that ensued led many countries in Europe including France and Romania to stop the cultivation of GM corn. None of these varieties have been approved in India for human consumption.
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Posted on Monday, May 05, 2008
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Using trees for fuel as part of the agrofuels boom means cultivation of massive monoculture tree plantations. They are already present in Chile, Uruguay, and Brazil to supply lumber as well as paper pulp, and due to the destruction of biodiversity this model has encountered opposition by civil society groups and indigenous peoples whose rural livelihoods are at stake.
Lignin, the substance that gives firmness to plants and trees, is a major obstacle to the extraction of cellulose, a process necessary for conversion to fuel. The removal of lignin has always been a challenge for paper companies, which use lumber as a raw material. They usually do so by applying toxic and highly polluting chemicals to the wood. Constituting from a quarter to a third of the dry mass of wood, it can only be broken down by certain species of bacteria and fungi.
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Posted on Monday, May 05, 2008
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First-generation biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel debuted on the world stage as the solution to the fossil fuel trap. Soon evidence began to mount indicating that the solution may well prove to be just a new set of problems.
Executives and scientists of agribusiness and biotechnology corporations know the problems caused by first-generation agrofuels, and are wagering that these can be solved by a new generation of agrofuels derived from cellulose.
Cellulose, the most common organic compound on earth, is a key structural component of the cell walls of green plants and many forms of algae. About 33% of all plant matter is cellulose. Scientists have devoted major efforts to find practical ways of turning it into liquid fuel. In nature only fungi and certain bacteria found in the guts of termites and ruminant mammals (such as cows) produce enzymes that can digest cellulose. The ability to turn cellulose into fuel would make it possible to use any vegetable matter, living or dead, to this end.
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Posted on Monday, May 05, 2008
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