Happy Easter everyone!
I am celebrating OUR resurrection. We seem to have come to life! Be very thankful that I can’t forward to you all the items sent in – incredibly good things happening in so many different quarters.
… what’s the relationship between “resurrection” and “insurrection”?!
– from Latin insurrctus, past participle of insurgere, to rise up.
– from Latin resurrctus, past participle of resurgere, to rise again.
Hmmm … don’t know whether I’m a resurgent or an insurgent? Maybe I’m an insurgent (as well as being a guerilla!) and TOGETHER we are resurgents because people have risen up before?!
I think we’re resurrecting in a smarter way than was done, for example, in the French Revolution.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
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BACK TO BASF WHEAT:
CONTENTS
(1) ACTION FOR TODAY: SEND AN EMAIL TO BASF. IT’S EASY! (includes copy of what I sent)
(2) EMAIL SENT TO CPPIB (CANADA PENSION PLAN INVESTMENT BOARD) ($75 million of our pension money is invested in BASF. Board member in conflict-of-interest.)
(3) THE PEOPLE WHO ARE BASF
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(1) ACTION FOR TODAY: SEND AN EMAIL TO BASF. IT’S EASY!
Use the names of the responsible persons – below.
To send your message from their web-site, click on: https://corporate.basf.com/en/kontakt/?id=Yh8kqC0*jbcp3DF
HERE’S THE TWO EMAILS I SENT TO BASF TODAY:
(1) Please pass this information to your Board of Directors:
Jürgen Hambrecht, Eggert Voscherau, Kurt Bock, Martin Brudermüller, Hans-Ulrich Engel, John Feldmann, Andreas Kreimeyer, Stefan Marcinowski, Harald Schwager
Concerning: Clearfield herbicide-tolerant muta-genesis wheat
By separate email I am forwarding to you a copy of my letter sent to as many newspapers and media people in Canada as I am able.
Thousands and thousands of people fought down Monsanto’s herbicide-tolerant wheat. You might like to know that you are about to become as disliked as Monsanto.
We do not want our food developed by the criterion that it can be sprayed by chemicals and survive. It is irrelevant that your wheat is “muta-genesis” and not GMO.
The research is straight forward and reinforced by common sense. The experience of my province with herbicide-tolerant canola reinforces the research and common sense: within 3 years of the introduction of a herbicide-tolerant crop, chemical use increases significantly.
Your grand-children should have to be raised in a rural agricultural area. Rates of childhood cancers, development problems, Parkinson’s disease, breast cancer are very high. Your propaganda about the benign nature of your products, through CropLife International is untrue and unwelcome.
The development of resistant plants, a natural process of Nature, means that you are condemning us to ever larger applications of more toxic chemicals on our lands. They get into our water supplies. I don’t have the words to say nicely what I would like to say.
You may know that there are two recent documentaries, one out of France, the other out of Germany, about the unsavoury nature of Monsanto. The documentaries are being widely circulated in Canada. We are very connected by email here. Perhaps you will have your turn next.
In the meantime I am writing to the ethical investing function of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to request that they disinvest our money from BASF.
As at March 31, 2007, Canadians had $75 million dollars invested in BASF. Your attempts vis-à-vis the world’s wheat crop are repugnant, to be quite blunt about the matter. BASF does not meet the criterion for ethical investing.
Get your herbicide-tolerant muta-genesis Clearfield Wheat off the market immediately, before spring seeding starts.
I will be helping to mobilize the breast cancer survivors in our rural communities, people with Parkinson’s disease, and every other group I can, to see that your insidious product doesn’t get off the shelf.
Yours sincerely,
Sandra Finley
(contact information)
(2) ALSO TO BASF, (2ND OF 2 EMAILS):
Please pass this information to your Board of Directors:
Jürgen Hambrecht, Eggert Voscherau, Kurt Bock, Martin Brudermüller, Hans-Ulrich Engel, John Feldmann, Andreas Kreimeyer, Stefan Marcinowski, Harald Schwager
Sent to local newspapers:
CHEMICAL GIANT BASF’S HERBICIDE-TOLERANT WHEAT
RE: Schmeiser gets cheque from Monsanto, SP, Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Monsanto and Schmeiser got tied up over herbicide-tolerant canola. This spring BASF is advertising its herbicide-tolerant wheat on rural radio stations. (BASF is an international chemical company from Germany with revenues in the billions of dollars. Like Monsanto it designs plant life that will not die when sprayed with its chemicals.)
In 2003 thousands of people from across Canada fought down Monsanto’s herbicide-tolerant wheat. I, like all those others, do not want my food designed by the criterion that it can be sprayed with chemicals and survive.
The standard for food crops should be whether the new variety makes a positive contribution to the nutritional needs of the population. Wheat is a centre-piece of our food supply.
Another reason why Monsanto’s herbicide-tolerant wheat was defeated:
– Plants that are resistant to chemical applications eventually become super weeds. Super weeds have to be attacked with stronger chemicals. (We know the danger of Nature’s evolutionary process through the development of super-bugs that are resistant to existing antibiotics.)
In Canada there are more acres sown to wheat than to any other crop. That this crop should become one sown to corporately owned, herbicide-tolerant seed is not acceptable. The disease and developmental problems associated with existing chemical loads on the environment argue against it, as does the development of resistant plants.
The Government (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) licenses crops for the Canadian food supply. The CFIA is paid by us, to serve the public interest. “Clearfield wheat”, designed through a process called “muta-genesis”, serves the interest of BASF.
BASF can learn from the Schmeisers. Monsanto (rival to BASF) came to the Schmeiser’s place to address contamination by Monsanto’s herbicide-tolerant canola. They tested the plants, determined they were indeed Roundup Ready, and said they would clean up the contamination only if the Schmeisers signed a contract (a “standard release form”). The contract gagged the Schmeisers from speaking about the contamination and made it impossible for them to seek damages for any “past, present, or future” harm caused by the GM canola “volunteers”. The Schmeisers refused, had the GM canola cleaned up, and sued Monsanto in small claims court for their $660 expense. They won – Monsanto paid out-of-court.
Percy and Louise Schmeiser have removed the manipulative capability of the “standard release form”, a vehicle to prevent information from spreading.
Monsanto is notorious for using the court system to silence those who get in its way. Legal costs can easily bankrupt a farmer. Schmeiser’s victory through small claims court lights a way for others.
Monsanto’s out-of-court settlement with Schmeiser ($660.00) is pennies with the potential to break the bank:
– the owner of the seed is responsible for the contamination.
– the property owner doesn’t have to do the clean-up; s/he can hire it done.
– the owner of the seed will pay the bill.
Which is as it should be.
Now who wants to be the owner of herbicide-tolerant wheat, in 3 years after it starts to show up on summerfallow fields, in shelter belts and in gardens? … There’s money to be made, and not by the seed owners!
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(2) EMAIL SENT TO CPPIB (CANADA PENSION PLAN INVESTMENT BOARD, Board member in conflict-of-interest)
Concerning: Clearfield herbicide-tolerant muta-genesis wheat.
TO: the Canada Pension Plan Investment Review Board
Dear Babak,
Please emphasize my objections to the Board of Directors of the CPPIB:
As at March 31, 2007, Canadians have $75 million dollars invested in BASF (581,000 shares). I urge the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to reduce the investment to zero.
By separate email I am forwarding information to you about the chemical-biotechnolgy companies.
A review of the literature leads to the definite conclusion that ethically, the faster one can get the pension plan money of Canadian citizens out of BASF the better. I certainly object to my money being invested in this company. I am currently complicit in their actions, through the investing of my money by the CPPIB.
Please note:
Germaine Gibara (Board of Directors of the CPPIB) would be in a conflict-of-interest were she to participate in discussions about BASF’s products. She is on the Board of Agrium. Agrium makes its money from seed and chemicals. BASF produces both.
I have not had time to review others of the Board Members (Gail Cook-Bennett Chairperson, Robert M. Astley, Ian A. Bourne, Pierre Choquette, Michael Goldberg, Peter K. Hendrick, Philip MacDougall, Helen Sinclair, Ronald E. Smith, David Walker,
D. Murray Wallace). I am sure that those who are in a conflict-of-interest will absent themselves from discussion of the BASF issue.
I am pleased to provide further information should it be helpful. Please call me anytime.
Best wishes to you,
Sandra Finley
(contact info)
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NOTE TO ALL
You can see who’s on the CPP Board of Directors at: http://www.cppib.ca/About_Us/board_of_directors.html
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(3) THE PEOPLE WHO ARE BASF
Meet the Board of Directors. You can see their pictures at: https://corporate.basf.com/en/ueberuns/fuehrung/vorstand/?id=Yh8kqC0*jbcp3DF
I did a quick google on Jürgen Hambrecht (Chair of the Board). There’s information about him. Ideally we would obtain an email address for him or his office. Same as in past when I looked up contact information for the Board of Skye Resources, etc. If anyone has time to track down more direct access to these people, it would be helpful. In the meantime, lots of emails to BASF through their web page will work.
(1) Dr. Jürgen Hambrecht, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, Chemist
Responsibilities: Legal, Taxes & Insurance; Strategic Planning & Controlling; Communications BASF Group; Global HR – Executive Management & Development; Investor Relations; Chief Compliance Officer
(2) Eggert Voscherau, Vice Chairman of the Board, Economist
Responsibilities: Human Resources; Environment, Health & Safety; Verbund Site Management Europe; Engineering & Maintenance; Corporate & Governmental Relations; Project: Diversity
(3) Dr. Kurt Bock, Chief Financial Officer, Business Economist
Responsibilities: Finance; Catalysts; Market & Business Development North America; Regional Functions North America; Information Services; Corporate Controlling; Corporate Audit
(4) Dr. Martin Brudermüller, Chemist
Responsibilities: Performance Polymers; Polyurethanes; Market & Business Development Asia Pacific; Regional Functions & Country Management Asia Pacific
(5) Dr. Hans-Ulrich Engel, Lawyer
Responsibilities: Oil and Gas; Region Europe; Global Procurement & Logistics
(6) Dr. John Feldmann, Chemist
Responsibilities: Construction Chemicals; Acrylic & Dispersions; Care Chemicals; Performance Chemicals, Styrenics; Polymer Research
(7) Dr. Andreas Kreimeyer, Research Executive Director, Biologist
Responsibilities: Inorganics; Petrochemicals; Intermediates; Chemicals Research & Engineering; BASF Future Business
(8) Dr. Stefan Marcinowski, Chemist
Responsibilities: Crop Protection; Coatings; Specialty Chemicals Research; BASF Plant Science; Region South America
(9) Dr. Harald Schwager, Chemist
Responsibilities: Dr. Harald Schwager will assume the following responsibilities following the Annual Meeting 2008: Human Resources; Environment, Health & Safety; Verbund Site Management Europe; Engineering & Maintenance; Corporate & Governmental Relations; Project: Diversity