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Wed Feb 11, 2009 at 16:53:19 PM PST
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A really bad cold can not stem my anger at the various GM Biotechs who are now playing us like fools as they are unashamedly portraying themselves as the White Knights of the modern world. Last June I wrote here:
In the face of climate chaos and a deepening world food crisis, the Gene mongers are gearing up for a PR offensive to re-brand themselves as climate saviors, pushing genetically engineered crops as a silver bullet solution to climate change.
Well it has come even though green campaigners and politicians alike have expressed concerns that the long-term safety of GM crops has not been established scientifically or otherwise. |
| Asinus Asinum Fricat :: GM Foods on the Attack in Europe |
I am not completely against Biotechs particularly when it comes to the discovery of the rust "avirulence gene" which could result in the development of new wheat varieties with improved and longer lasting rust resistance among other things, no, I am against proprietary control freaks on the one hand and the fact that a broad consensus among the scientific world demands that the environmental effects of genetically modified plants should be evaluated using science-based assessment procedures before jumping the gun. And what about the animals? How will they react to feeds from genetically modified crops and enzymes derived from genetically modified micro-organisms? There are so many more questions and so few answers.
Yet a major UK supermarket chain, Tesco, is happily leading the charge extolling the wonders of GM:
Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy has signaled that the retailer is willing to back genetically modified (GM) foods, saying consumer attitudes have changed and it has a vital part to play. Speaking at the annual City Food Lecture, held in London, Leahy said: "In some ways it may have been a failure of us all actually to stand behind the science.
You get a sense that whilst always the scientific evidence was clear, governments let alone retailers stopped short of wholehearted endorsing it and I think that that certainly didn’t help in the case of GM."
Whoopee do! Let's put the horse before the cart!
For the last six months I've been hearing noises from the GM lobby planting doubt in the minds of consumers and made some notes:
A genetically modified variety of spud may have to be produced in Irish laboratories because of the growing threat from blight.
And this:
Dr Ewen Mullins, a research officer with Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, said the risk of blight has become more serious in the past two years.
Currently, according to Irish data, potato farmers have to spray their crops up to 12 times a year. But now we're told that there is hope to create a variety that will only need to be sprayed four times a year. The decreased use of pesticides would in turn mean less damage to the environment. Ha! The environment...and the -carrot- cost:
"If we were to reduce chemicals by up to 40% on our potato crop, that would challenge potato growers. We [think] GM is worth investigating from that point of view. GM seed costs more and it comes down to choice". Note the hesitation.
In the EU the GM debate has gone on for more than 15 years, yet the GM lobby is quoted yesterday as saying: It is timely to have the debate. Then here comes the noble knights: Amid rising food insecurity where food manufacturers face volatile commodity prices and supply issues, GM crops have been promoted as a way of helping to ease a food crisis.
Because of public concern over the risk associated with their co-existence alongside non-GM crops, Brussels is still investigating the environmental impact of a number of GM crops and whether they could provide an economic benefit to farmers via reduced chemical costs.
Let's bring in a Lord for good measure and a tad of credence: Lord Krebs, former chairman of the UK Food Standards Agency, who also joined the panel agreed and said: "To me the real moral tragedy of the whole GM debacle was not so much the impact on our food here in the UK, but the fact that the European prissiness about GM has affected its adoption in Africa." Ha! The African card is played, the poor are malnourished because of that pesky GM resistance. Never mind the environment.
Europeans on average consume about 107kg of spuds a year. With world food prices soaring, experts think increased consumption of spuds could be the answer to shortages because they are easy to grow, quick to mature, require little water and have much higher yields than wheat or rice.
The Irish view: there is still much hostility in Ireland to GM crops. In 1998, campaigners sabotaged a GM sugar-beet crop in Co Wexford, part of a trial by Monsanto, an American company. Others attacked a GM trial plot at Oak Park. Last year another chemical firm, BASF, abandoned plans to grow GM potatoes in Ireland, moving its research operations to Britain. The company had been given approval for field trials in Co Meath.
If you visit Monsanto website, it's all good, the world now grows 282.4 million acres (114.3 million hectares) of GM crops (2007 figures) from 12 million farmers in 23 countries. Not a worry.
OrangeClouds115 and many others have done numerous diaries on why organics are in a much better position to feed the world without having to subscribe to the notion of a chemically induced environment. I know some of you think we are naysayers and fearmongers but ask yourself this: would you prefer to live in a world free of chemical pesticides and eat organically grown meats and vegetables or risk the unknown? |
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