Jim Hightower

Thanks to the blessings of nature and good farmers, you and I are able to enjoy such scrumptious delights as fresh corn-on-the-cob, popcorn, or other variations of this truly-great grain. And now, thanks to Dow Chemical and federal regulators, we can look forward to "Agent Orange Corn."

The chemical giant is in line to gain approval for putting a genetically-altered corn seed on the market that will produce corn plants that won't die when doused with high levels of 2,4-D. This potent pesticide was an ingredient in Dow's notorious Agent Orange defoliant, which did horrific damage to soldiers and civilians in the Vietnam War. However, the corporation and the feds claim that 2,4-D was not the deadliest ingredient of the killer defoliant and has not yet been proven to cause cancer in humans, so they're pressing ahead to let this corporate-constructed seed be planted across America.

Dow now sells 2,4-D to help kill various weeds, but the herbicide is so strong that it also kills normal corn. Thus, Dow's genetic engineers made a new corn that's immune to the weedkiller. This would let the corporation profit from selling the patented seed, plus enjoying a huge increase in sales of its 2,4-D herbicide. How happy for Dow!

Not so happy, though, for consumers worried about the untested longterm health consequences of the altered corn and the carcinogenic possibilities of ingesting more 2,4-D. Also, when sprayed, this herbicide can vaporize and spread for miles, killing crops that are not immune, poisoning the surrounding environment, and endangering the health of farmers and townspeople throughout the area.

All this unhappiness for so many just to make one corporation happy by getting much richer at our expense. For information and action go to www.SaveOurCrops.org.