Forum Post: Indian Farmers vs Monsanto
Posted 11 years ago on Aug. 25, 2013, 10:42 a.m. EST by shoozTroll
(17632)
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On August 8, thousands of farmers and activists from across 20 Indian states demonstrated in New Delhi against the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, and demanded an end to GMOs in India. 53-year-old farmer Jaswant Sainhara, standing with his son, proudly held up a placard that read, “Monsanto, Quit India.”
August in Delhi is among the hottest months of the year, with temperatures ranging from 40 to 45 degrees Celsius (104 to 113 Fahrenheit). Yet under the sweltering summer sky, the people whose voices rose together that day knew they were not fighting for their justice alone, but were fighting for the basic human right to safe food.
"There is a clear lesson here for India: A country can survive without big corporations controlling food".----------------------Actually, Earth would survive just fine without any corporations.
The Earth will "survive", without any of us.........................:)
Agree.
In compliment: GMO In the Know - September 6th, 2013
Sen. Warren Urges FDA to Finalize GMO Labeling Standards
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) have sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), urging the agency to finalize its policies on genetically engineered ingredients marketed as food products or additives. "We encourage the FDA to implement a regulatory framework that will promote transparency for consumers while providing producers with the certainty they need to label their products appropriately." Read Here >>
Corn Hardwired for Chemicals: A Video Asks "Could You Taste the Difference?"
Pesticide use is skyrocketing across the MidWest corn belt, as more and more acres of genetically engineered corn crops are planted each year, designed to withstand increased levels of chemical use. Yet the majority of Americans are left in the dark once these crops hit supermarket shelves, unable to make a distinction between GE and non-GE foods. A new video begs the question: Would you be able to tell if your corn had been hardwired with chemicals? The answer: Probably not. Read More >>
Golden Rice and GMOs: The Best Solutions to World Hunger?
In a follow-up to her piece "Just Because Science Can Genetically Engineer Food, Doesn't Mean We Should", Forbes contributor Beth Hoffman uses a handful of maps and graphs to show that it is often the countries that are not suffering from issues like Vitamin A deficiency who are most eager for GE foods to come to market. Most countries in less-developed regions such as Southeast Asia and Central Africa have mandatory labeling laws in place, and exhibit strong reservations about accepting GE foods. Read More >>
The GMO Labeling Debate Erupts in U.S.
The idea of labeling genetically engineered foods is gaining traction across the U.S., as more and more Americans tune in to the overwhelming presence of GE ingredients in our food supply. Legislative wins for labeling in Maine and Connecticut and a consumer supported ballot initiative in Washington state signify changing consumer sentiment, and a greater demand for transparency. According to consumer research consultant Amy Sousa, "Trying to supress labeling and skirting around the issue is not a sustainable approach." Read More >>
Donate to Just Label It | Sign the Petition
We're building a movement of concerned citizens – parents, health care workers, small business owners, farmers, and more – who care about what's in the food we eat.
In October 2011, the Just Label It campaign was formed when the Center for Food Safety filed a petition with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to require the labeling of all foods produced using genetic engineering. Days later, we asked citizens from around the country to join us and tell the FDA to "Just Label It." More than 1.2 million Americans have contacted to the FDA urging them to label genetically engineered foods. Ask others to sign on at www.JustLabelIt.org/takeaction.
Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Learn more at www.JustLabelIt.org
Point, counterpoint.
On GMOs.
http://grist.org/food/pointed-talk-michael-pollan-and-amy-harmon-dissect-a-gm-controversy/
In GMO failures closer to home.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gmo-corn-failing-to-protect-fields-pests
An important, yet ignored thread.
Now they fight for the bees too.
http://www.occupy.com/article/opposition-monsanto-growing-indias-farmers-turn-traditional-bees-and-honey
Related = IMPROVE -- and MOVE
No, this is not my life mantra. But I'm considering it. "Improve -- and move" is our mantra for the new proposal to reform the 37 year old -- and dangerously ineffective - law, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. This is our chance to make a HUGE difference in our lives, by improving and moving the Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013.
Right now it is still legal for manufacturers to use:
I could go on and on: 62,000 chemicals on the market in 1976 -- still the majority of those in use today -- were grandfathered in under TSCA without proof of safety. Since then, 23,000 more new chemicals have been allowed to enter the market without rigorous testing. We may think that because something is on the shelves of our stores, it's been shown to be safe. We are mistaken.
And what's all this got to do with air pollution? Many of these toxic chemicals "off-gas" -- they drift into the air in our homes and workplaces, and contaminate the dust on the floor where our babies crawl. We breathe them into our bodies.
Tell your Senator to IMPROVE AND MOVE the Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013.
For years, hundreds of thousands of parents have been demanding reform -- just look at how some companies dropped the hormone disruptor BPA in plastics, for instance, because of consumers' protests. But the problem is that without regulation, manufacturers can just substitute BPA with another untested chemical that might be even more hazardous. We need strong chemical laws. And the Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013 is our first real chance in decades to get to that goal.
IMPROVE: The new bill has significant flaws -- and negotiations are underway to improve it. For instance, the bill does not adequately address the special vulnerability of infants and children, who have different responses to chemicals than do adults.
MOVE: The new bill is bipartisan, which is vital to actually passing legislation. It is our only chance, and may be for years, to give our government the authority it needs to identify and regulate toxic chemicals. The status quo is not an option.
Please urge your Senators to support strong toxic chemical reform. It is their job to work to improve it -- and keep it moving.
Remember: right now, WE are the guinea pigs. Under current law, the chemicals in our stuff are innocent until proven guilty -- effectively, they're being tested in our bodies, and in our children's bodies. This isn't right. Let's do something about it.
PLEASE sign our petition to tell your Senators you want a strong chemical safety law.
Sincerely,
Dominique Browning Co-Founder and Senior Director, Moms Clean Air Force
momscleanairforce.org | About Us | Unsubscribe
© Moms Clean Air Force 2013
I added:
PS-
You want to reduce the cost of health care?
You want to reduce the number of people on disability?
You want to end needless disease and death?
You want to put an end to birth defects?
Then you will support continuous improvement in identifying and removing deadly chemicals from our food and packaging and building materials and water and soil.
Signed, of course...........:)
Of Course {:-])
[Removed]
The cozy relationship between Monsanto, the world's largest biotech corporation, and the USDA has gotten out of hand.
Monsanto's growth hormones for cows have been approved by Michael Taylor, a former Monsanto lobbyist turned USDA administrator and FDA deputy commissioner. This was after Margaret Miller, while working as a researcher for Monsanto, oversaw a report on the hormones’ safety and then took a job at the FDA where she approved her own report.
We’re joining with RootsAction to demand that congress look into this relationship between Monsanto and USDA. Take action and add your voice.
The revolving door keeps on turning.
Monsanto's board members have worked for the EPA, advised the USDA, and served on President Obama's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. Former Monsanto lobbyist Islam Siddiqui is the Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and is famously known for his criticism of the European Union and its precautionary approach to GMOs.
It’s no wonder the USDA has never denied a single application from Monsanto for new genetically engineered crops.
An investigation of large-scale government corruption driven by this singularly destructive corporation is long overdue. Join us and RootsAction in demanding that congress open an investigation now.
This chemical company -- responsible for environmental disasters that have destroyed entire towns -- has monopolized our food system largely by taking over regulatory agencies like the USDA. Monsanto is even looking at using Dicamba, a chemical similar to and as powerful as one of the main components of Agent Orange, as an herbicide on genetically engineered corn and soybeans.
Click here to join us in demanding a Congressional investigation into the revolving door between Monsanto and the USDA.
Dana Perls,
Food and Technology campaigner Friends of the Earth
I added:
Corp(se)oRATions are killing this country and this world. If you see this and do not know that they need to be put in their place = subject to the LAW the Constitution.Then you should not be in office. If you do not see it ( corp(se)oRATions killing the world )then you are blind and should leave office.
OK, I signed, but if the USDA and other regulatory and investigative organizations funding remain at the levels the (R)epelican'ts have lowered them to, I fear the "revolving door" will continue to operate as it does now.
After all, that was one of the aims of the funding cuts in the first place.
Well you know as well as I - that no progress will be made without protest. That includes shining the spotlight on all of the corruption. And all groups supporting complimentary actions. The corp(se)oRATists are really helping out with getting people pissed off.
The Senate fights back???
I didn't expect this, but here it is!!!
http://www.occupy.com/article/anti-gmo-victory-senate-kill-monsanto-protection-act-amid-outrage
The real question now becomes, will the (R)s get on board?
Finally Someone Stands Up To American Farmers As They Annoy Monsanto Lawyers. It's About Time.
In compliment : Wow, over 170,000 people have signed our petition to Bayer and Syngenta urging them to drop their lawsuit against the European Commission. Click here to join them.
-Claiborne
PS - Click here to share on Facebook
Original email:
Bayer has just sued the European Commission to overturn a ban on the pesticides that are killing millions of bees around the world. A huge public push won this landmark ban only months ago -- and we can't sit back and let Big Pesticide overturn it while the bees vanish.
Bayer and Syngenta, two of the world's largest chemical corporations, claim that the ban is "unjustified" and "disproportionate." But clear scientific evidence shows their products are behind the massive bee die-off that puts our entire food chain in peril.
Just last month, 37 million bees were discovered dead on a single Canadian farm. And unless we act now, the bees will keep dying. We have to show Bayer now that we won't tolerate it putting its profits ahead of our planet's health. If this giant corporation manages to bully Europe into submission, it would spell disaster for the bees.
Sign the petition to tell Bayer and Syngenta to drop their bee-killing lawsuits now.
The dangerous chemical Bayer makes is a neonicotinoid, or neonic. Neonics are soaked into seeds, spreading through the plant and killing insects stopping by for a snack. These pesticides can easily be replaced by other chemicals which don’t have such a devastating effect on the food chain. But companies like Bayer and Syngenta make a fortune from selling neonics -- so they’ll do everything they can to protect their profits.
The EU banned these bee-killers this past May, after a massive public campaign and a clear scientific finding from the European Food Safety Authority that neonics pose huge risks to bee populations. Bayer fought against the ban every step of the way, using tactics taken from Big Tobacco -- pouring millions into lobbying and fake science to stop decision-makers from taking action.
Now, we have to defend this landmark ban for the bees, and our food supply. Sign the petition now to tell Bayer and Syngenta to drop their aggressive lawsuits!
We have to stand up for the European ban now, from Europe and from around the world. The current ban only lasts for two years before it's up for review, and Bayer is now determined to stop it before it even comes into force in December 2013. If it is allowed to intimidate the European authorities with impunity, then the pressure to overturn the ban will be huge. This will be a massive victory for the poison industry, and a devastating loss for the bees, and all of us. It will make every environmental regulation more difficult, because companies that can't win on the facts can use their enormous profits to fund expensive, baseless lawsuits.
Bayer is an enormous company with a ton of public-facing brands. Neonics are a big part of its bottom line, but it can't afford poor publicity on a global scale. And if word gets out that Bayer is wrecking our ecosystem and threatening a creature responsible for pollinating a third of all our crops, the company will have to back down.
SumOfUs staff and members have literally just gotten of the plane from a convention in Chicago where we took the fight for a ban in the US right to the industry itself -- so we know how important it is to hold the line.
Sign the petition to tell Bayer and Syngenta to drop their bee-killing lawsuit now. Let's build on this landmark victory and take the bee-killing pesticide ban global.
Thanks for all you do,
Claiborne, Kaytee, and the team at SumOfUs
More information:
EU insecticide ban triggers legal action, Nature News, 28 August, 2013
Signed, of course.......................:)
Monsanto is not alone.
{:-]) - TWEET
DKAtoday @DKAtoday
Bayer is suing the EU for saving the bees. Don't let it! http://bit.ly/15kEBRr via @Sum_Of_Us
Pls
Share
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re-TWEET
In compliment to standing up to frankenfood:
I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Chicago, where beekeepers from across the US were speaking out about the danger of bee-killing pesticides on behalf of thousands of SumOfUs supporters. And here’s what I learned: the pesticide industry really, really doesn’t want people to hear our message.
I went to Chicago to attend a massive commercial gardening convention, where the beekeepers (who call themselves ‘beeks’) and I were delivering the voices of over 140,000 SumOfUs supporters. Our message: stop selling the pesticides that are killing the bees! It wasn’t a message that Bayer and the pesticide giants wanted the world to hear. I was barely off the plane in Chicago when I learned that the industry-sponsored convention organizers had threatened SumOfUs with a lawsuit if we took our message inside the convention grounds!
But we had come prepared (thanks to thousands of donations from SumOfUs supporters!) -- and we didn’t leave until the beekeepers had reached out to thousands of commercial garden center owners and the national media about the dangers of these bee-killing pesticides. Here’s the most remarkable thing: many of the garden center owners signed on in support as soon as they heard our message -- exactly why Big Pesticide is scared of our campaign to save the bees.
Big Pesticide is determined to silence us, but we’re not going to let them -- and we won’t back down to legal intimidation. Our colorful bus ads blanketed Chicago during the conference, and were featured on morning TV news across the US -- and now, thanks to you, we’re taking the message straight to garden center owners themselves with ads in the biggest commercial garden publications. With your support, we’re going to keep fighting until these pesticides are banned around the world and the bees -- and our food supply -- are safe.
Click here to see more photos of the beekeepers delivering our message in Chicago, and to share the campaign with your friends to keep building the opposition to bee-killing pesticides.
The threat of a lawsuit wasn’t the only tactic they used to silence us in Chicago. They rolled out a full campaign of intimidation, including:
Meanwhile, Bayer spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on huge ads all over the convention center and a booth advocating their “bee care” program, all the while selling the pesticides that are killing them at the convention!
But despite these dirty tactics, we got our message out loud and clear. Our beekeeper friends had hundreds of one-on-one conversations with convention attendees, handed out thousands of flyers about the deadly effects of ‘neonics’, the pesticides that are killing the bees, plastered the city’s buses with our ads, and took the city by swarm.
Bayer’s reaction shows one thing -- it’s scared. Europe has already banned these killer chemicals, so now the industry is fighting with all they’ve got to dump the neonics on North America. Just last week, Time Magazine wrote about the global bee die-off and neonic bee killers in its cover story, and this week, the American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordering an immediate reduction in the use of these pesticides, and admitted that the chemical is partly responsible for the disappearance of honey bees. Big Pesticide is terrified that its profits will take a hit if we win in the US as well.
Thanks to your support, we’re going to keep up the fight. First up, we’re planning hard-hitting ads in gardening industry publications next month, to make sure the garden center owners get this vital information. And we’ve got more ideas in the works -- but after the legal threats in Chicago, we’re keeping them under wraps to stop the industry from trying to block us again.
Together, we can save the bees. We hope you’ll stay with us until we win this fight.
On behalf of all of us,
Angus and the beekeepers (Terry, Reba, Sam, Amy, and Edie)
PS: we don’t take any corporate funding, so all of this and more is made possible through your support. If you want to donate to make sure that we can keep campaigning to save the bees in the months ahead, you can do that here.
SumOfUs is a world-wide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.
You can follow us on Twitter , and like us on Facebook.
Was this email forwarded to you? Click here to add yourself to SumOfUs.
GMO In the Know - August 30th, 2013
Why Genetically Modifying Food is a Bad Idea
Forbes contributor Beth Hoffman identifies a credibility problem with science, and asks whether spending billions of dollars on new genetically engineered products, such as Golden Rice, is a good idea when highly effective tools to solve problems such as world hunger already exist. "Why has feeding the hungry become a self-serving competition for lab funding when viable solutions to the problem are now available?" Read Here >>
GMO Corn Failing to Protect Fields From Pest Damage
A new report shows researchers are finding significant damage from rootworms in farm fields in Illinois, which are planted in a rotation with a type of genetically engineered corn that is supposed to be resistant to the pests. "Farmers across a wide swath of Illinois could face formidable challenges in protecting their corn crops from the hungry insects." Read More >>
GE Foods & the Need for Labeling
More than 60 other nations around the world, including all of the EU, Russia and China, require labeling of genetically engineered foods, yet despite overwhleming support for labeling in the U.S., Americans are left in the dark when it comes to what's in their food. Gary Hirshberg examines the top reasons why we need mandatory federal labeling of GE ingredients. Read More >>
Grocery Manufacturers Spend Big Against Food Labeling Proposal
Big money spent on defeating last year's Prop 37 intiative to label GE foods in California is migrating north to fight I-522, a similar measure in Washington state. On Monday, the Grocery Manufacturers Association - Big Food's national lobby group - contributed $1.75 million to the No on 522 campaign, sending a signal that the major food and chemical companies will continue to fight our right to know every chance they get. Read More >>
Donate to Just Label It | Sign the Petition
We're building a movement of concerned citizens – parents, health care workers, small business owners, farmers, and more – who care about what's in the food we eat.
In October 2011, the Just Label It campaign was formed when the Center for Food Safety filed a petition with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to require the labeling of all foods produced using genetic engineering. Days later, we asked citizens from around the country to join us and tell the FDA to "Just Label It." More than 1.2 million Americans have contacted to the FDA urging them to label genetically engineered foods. Ask others to sign on at www.JustLabelIt.org/takeaction.
Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Learn more at www.JustLabelIt.org
Don't worry, the soap opera of the banned will bury this one too.
Truth doesn't matter to those gang bangers.
Soon Snow White may not be the only one with reason to be concerned about apples.
A new genetically engineered Arctic Apple® could be approved to enter our food supply as early as December, and, like other GMO foods, it won’t be labeled and won’t have undergone independent safety testing.
Apple growers and consumers say they don’t need or want this GMO apple, but it will soon be in everything from baby food to school lunches to Happy Meals, posing risks to our health, our environment and apple farmers across the United States.
Baby food companies are one of the largest buyers of apples, and Gerber is one of the world’s largest baby food companies. Gerber has stated that it doesn't currently use GMO fruits or vegetables in their baby food. Until now that's been easy because there weren't any staple GMO fruits or vegetables, like apples, on the market.
That's about to change, so please help us send a strong message to Gerber: keep GMO apples out of baby food.
This GMO apple was genetically engineered via a new, virtually untested experimental technique called RNA interference, which many scientists are concerned may have negative unintended impacts on human health. The Arctic Apple® was not designed for increased nutritional value, but for purely cosmetic purposes -- it was genetically engineered to not brown when cut. However, browning in apples can be prevented naturally by applying lemon juice or another source of vitamin C -- making this new risky genetically engineered apple unnecessary.
Please tell Gerber: we don't want risky GMO apples in its baby food.
Without natural browning, apples may look fresh when they are actually decaying. Worse, apples’ natural browning enzyme also helps to fight diseases and pests, meaning that farmers may have to increase their pesticide use on these new GMO apples.
Apples already carry some of the highest levels of toxic pesticide residues, many of them linked to hormone disruption, reproductive harm and even ADHD. Pound for pound, kids eat more food and have higher levels of pesticide exposure -- and we know that early life exposures to toxic pesticides can be especially harmful. Yet another reason that we don’t need to introduce this new GMO apple into one of our kids’ first foods.
Help us keep the doctor away! Tell Gerber to keep GMO apples out of our babies’ first food!
Standing with you, Dana Perls and Lisa Archer, Food and Technology program, Friends of the Earth
It is shit like this that will turn people off of genetic engineering. I think this is why I hate Monsanto so much.
Monsatan science running amok.
Running amok and ruining the reputation of a field of science that, if allowed to mature, can improve our lives. I want to see decade long studies by non biased groups on the effects towards humans and the environment.
The sad thing is - they Are presenting the science ( poorly inappropriately criminally ) - and the science says that their products are deadly to People and the environment.
Explains the lack of time.
But other than for money/greed concerns - not the protection from the government. No the government should have stepped in and reigned them in or shut them down.
If you bribe the right people you can get away with anything. If there is one thing we could do to fix all our main problems is get money out of politics. Until we do we have no control of our government.
Move to Amend - it is the right step to take.
Agree completely. IMO the most important activist organization today.
Well they are very well organized and they are making progress - but I believe that every action being taken right now is absolutely essential. They all feed each-other. They are all tied together. They all express the urgency of our situation. IMO.
Good point. I don't want to overlook important things done by others.
On that note it is time for me to go.
Later.
It is all tied together and it is as easy as adding one and one. Once one gets past looking at the distractions.
But but - HELL - they gotta move at the speed of business - they ain't got no time for any sort of good science - SHEESH
That would be funny if it wasn't true. I don't know about you but I have talked to some very reasonable people who now want to ban gmos. Considering there seems to be no slowing the world birth rate down we are going to have to find alternate means of feeding ourselves. And gmos are a good place to start. BTW the shit they are doing by making crops resistant to pesticides is not what I think of when I think gmo. We need things like accelerating the growth cycle of crops or modifying the needs of the plant to allow growth in varying climates.
EDIT:
Really - not for awhile when you consider close to half of the annual crops in the USA rot in the fields. This too is business and government interference with agriculture.
BTW - the speed of business comment was supposed to reflect derisive sarcasm. Hard to do with text. As the speed of business is totally screwing over our lives and our planet.
I figured that you were being sarcastic. I did laugh until I thought of the times business trumped all else. Sometimes I envy the older generation. It has been like this my entire life. I was thinking about that and realized I was born around the time Reagan took office. Jan of 81.
Edit:
Then you have not lived through as much Bullshit as I. Nice you live in a time where the problems are being cataloged and protested against by a rising portion of the population though.
Not really nice per say. But I have been looking so long for people to get up Speak-up and Speak-out. Anyway as far as having had a peaceful childhood - we really were not aware of what was going on in the greater world. Though we did watch the Vietnam war on TV. Well except my parents didn't let us.
Gotta give credit to the internet. The amount of information available is amazing. And average people can reach more people then ever before. That is why the powers want to contain it.
Absolutely - their smoke and mirrors show is falling apart.
Here's the bad.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/genetically-modified-arctic-apple-zw0z1305zkin.aspx?PageId=1#ArticleContent
It just keeps getting better and better.
Thanks to the biotech industry’s relentless quest to control our food, McDonald’s, Burger King and even school cafeterias will soon be able to serve up apples that won’t turn brown when they’re sliced or bitten into. A new, almost entirely untested genetic modification technology, called RNA interference, or double strand RNA (dsRNA), is responsible for this new food miracle. Scientists warn that this genetic manipulation poses health risks, as the manipulated RNA gets into our digestive systems and bloodstreams. The biotech industry claims otherwise.
Of course, like any non-organic apple, the new GMO Arctic® Apple will be drenched in toxic pesticide residues, untested by the U.S. Food & Drug Association (FDA) and likely unlabeled. And of course these shiny new high-tech apples will be cheap, priced considerably lower than a pesticide-free, nutrient-dense, old-fashioned organic apple that turns a little brown after you slice it up.
Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/genetically-modified-arctic-apple-zw0z1305zkin.aspx?PageId=1#ixzz2eGDOBtkj
On the plus side, you'll never be sure when it will go bad.
You could slice/bite into a perfectly rotten apple and not know until that first bite.
Oh wait......that's not a plus.
Next global day of action against monsanto chemical is October 12th.
A national day of dis-o-bee-dience.
Good one, but that joke would have been more appreciated on the Monsanto thread, where you are also more appreciated. Besides, why bump this worthless post?
[-] 8675309 points by DKAtoday (8675309) from Coon Rapids, MN
Curious
What makes - Indian Farmers vs Monsanto
What makes "that" a worthless post?
I mean - I know you and shooz do not like eachother - but what makes - "Indian Farmers vs Monsanto" - a worthless post?
It wouldn't B a partisan thing - now - would it?
Because LeoYo already posted about it three days before shooz posted this. It's on the Monsanto thread right above your recent links. And with all due respect, DK, I'm not going to bump this again but I'm willing to talk elsewhere.
[-] 8675309 points by DKAtoday (8675309) from Coon Rapids, MN
No need - you have made yourself pretty clear.