Why I Love Seed Criminals

There are so many reasons I encourage people to commit seed crimes that I don't know where to begin.. You may ask "what is a seed crime?" A seed crime is when you send crop seed to another country where it is forbidden. A seed crime might be saving your own seed from your own harvest. A seed crime might be growing a vegetable that the government has forbidden. It can be as simple as sharing seed to a pepper that a corporation owns and being in peril of a lawsuit. I know it sounds crazy but every example is true.
Most of my readers are familiar with my quest to free the Peppadew. I think I have done a mighty fine job if I may say so myself. Should it be illegal to grow a Peppadew? Not hardly. Unless a corporation owns the rights to a F1 hybrid, I believe everything else is free for all. I have done my best to not just preach but to be active in what I say. If you're growing Peppadews in your garden, I'll just say "You're welcome". :-)
Next I want to discuss the European catalog. In the European union (and Canada I have heard but not verified) they have a catalog which lists all government approved crop seed. You are forbidden to "sell, swap, gift or exchange" any seed not listed in the official catalog. If you would like to list your families heirloom tomato for example, you have to pay for the privilage to the tune of about $6000 USD. Really. I'm not making this crap up. The damage here, many old family heirloom varieties will be lost forever. All commercial seed companies sell the same varieties more or less. No competition there except for pricing. So ridiculous. The Europeans are also at a disatvantage in that they cannot get seed for varieties from other countries. American heirloom crops or any other country. The government controlling what they grow and stealing their money in order to grant them permission to grow maybe their own family tomato. This is one reason I love to send seed to Europe. Yes, there is a huge underground of growers that seek seed outside of the catalog. Can you blame them?
If you have friends or family in Europe, I encourage you to be a seed criminal and mail all the forbidden seed you can to them. I don't think the U.S. will extradite you for your "crimes". Some of you might ask "Why should I care? I don't live in Europe". My best answer is that sometimes you have to defend the rights of others to protect your own rights. If this insanity comes to the U.S. (we all know the current administration would like to model Europe), we will be well prepared correct?
I was going to move along to the subject of GMO seed and how Monsanto is trying to control the worlds seed supply but I think that might be another post all unto itself. If you think GMO seed is a good thing,  read the following link about the epidemic of Indian farmers commiting suicide over it.  http://uk.news.yahoo.com/wave-suicides-among-indian-farmers-060910878.html