If your organisation is going to import freedom why on earth don't you get it from the USA. I have it on the good authority of a former President that the Chinese and the Belarussians all hate freedom, and that is why they are selling it so cheap. American freedom is so superior and they love it so much that they will sell it to you for a mere power station or two. And for a substantial donation you could use Mr Key's personal tunnel that comes out under a bush in Texas.

The Canadian farmer who took Monsanto to court and lost was an organic producer whose organic crop and reputation went down the gurgler because of pollen straying from nearby GE crops.

There are also instances of traditional Mexican indian corn varieties grown in fairly isolated areas being contaminated by pollenation from GE crops many miles away.

The Monsanto PR machine is very active and it easy to say that the rural Mexicans stole the seed, but it's just a story. You will find no proof one way or the other, just unequivocal statements from "foundations for research" that are funded by self-interested groups that are widely publicised and eventually become accepted because they seem authentic and authoritative.

I don't know why my message has been repeated

As an agricultural journalist who knows a bit about AgResearch and the people involved I invite you to look at the language used in the press release. Some of you are talking as if this is reality rather than just a possibility. "Understanding how switches MAY work....". "IF we can alter this...." ".,.IF REALISED...." "Another benefit MAY be...."

You need to look at the timing of the release - just before the National Agricultural Fieldays in Hamilton and just as CEO Andrew West announces that he is going to head the research arm of a commercial company. It is just a teaser with not a lot of substance, and while in the fullness of time it MAY result in something useful we are a long way from that yet.

Meantime, there are a number of practical things that farmers can do right now to reduce methane production but you don't hear anyone trumpeting those because they are techniques that are not new and can't be patented and there is no way for anyone to clip the ticket.

I worked for a research organisation that, in the late 80s or perhaps early 90s, hooked up to the Internet through IBM ATs. On the first occasion I used the Internet connection to access information held in the US I thought it would take some minutes to retrieve, but amazingly it arrived in only seconds! The info must have been stored at the organisation's subsidiary in Wellington, I told myself, because it couldn't possibly have come all the way from America in that time. It was some weeks before a colleague could convince me otherwise.

Go to Geekzone forums for Vodafone/ihug http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=40 and make your complaint. A Vodafone staffer lurks there and will be as helpful as their error-ridden system will allow. Contacting Vodafone direct is a waste of time short of writing a letter to the GM. Vodafone has become the new Telecom, and under its misdirection Ihug is becoming the new Xtra.