The Guardian – Ministers Pave Way For GM Crops
Not content with slicing bleeding chunks out of our global ecosystem, governments worldwide are happy for the manipulation of the stuff of life itself – the base DNA that defines forever the path that a species takes – to take place in order to make up for our total failure to suppress our greed and distribute our food equally.
It may be too late for the USA, Canada, Argentina and increasingly, China, but in the UK the government’s failure to protect the organic market – something that could actually turn the clock back on our over mechanised, chemically-infected food supply – is quite simply capitulation to the real powers that lie behind politics. Forward isn’t always the best direction.
This speech, written for the UK’s GM Nation? debate in 2003 is even more relevant now; please read it with an objective mind :
“What I am about to tell you is not pleasant and is hard to imagine. Above all, it is the truth. It’s up to you to decide whether you are prepared to accept it, or do something about it.
“I want you to sit back and imagine something wonderful, something the world has needed for hundreds of years, and we need even more now. I want you to imagine a world without hunger, without children asking their parents whether they will get food today, without people having to watch their families die and where everyone has enough food to keep themselves healthy.
“Now I want you to imagine a world where some people can stuff themselves stupid for the price of a paperback book, where entire nations refuse to protect the earth in order to increase their own economic growth, and where poor countries are forced to grow cash crops such as tobacco just to get international aid, instead of feeding their own people.
“You will not recognise the first world – you are living in the second; the same world who’s most powerful leaders and companies think that they know what is best for everyone else.
“The story of genetic modification is the story of good intentions gone bad. Einstein once said that if he had known that his theories of relativity would end up being the ingredients for nuclear weapons then he would have never given up his job in the Swiss Patent Office. Sometimes we have no control over our discoveries – this has never been more true than with genetic modification. What started as a method for increasing the size of cereal crop seeds, has turned into no less than a fight for the control of the world’s food.
“So why are people fighting over GM food? There are two reasons, hunger and money.
“Hunger is not unique to the current developing world. In the 19th century, three million people died as a result of the potato famine in Ireland. But in recent years, the frequency of famine in Africa in particular, has increased, partly as a result of war, soil erosion and economic migration. Another major reason is that of rich nations encouraging poor countries to sacrifice self-sufficiency in order to grow cash crops. Western governments, particularly the USA, bargain with poor countries. They promise money and trade guarantees in exchange for cheaply grown cotton, animal feed, peanuts – in fact anything that can be grown cheaper in the poor country than in the rich country. Once the rich countries have a foothold, then they can raise the stakes and start pushing GM food.
“Instead of offering financial aid to desperate countries, which can allow these countries to choose what seed and other agricultural supplies to buy, the USA is insisting that they accept aid in the form of genetically modified food and seeds. In addition they try to sell more GM crops, with promises of higher yields, extra protein, added vitamins – who wouldn’t want these things? What would you do if you were faced with this situation?
“But lets look at this again. The developing country is stuck in a cycle of famine. With international co-operation it is possible to stop wars, prevent soil erosion and encourage workers to stay. But much of the fertile land and the fertiliser is being used for cash crops so not enough food can be grown. On the other side of the world, 30% of the children are obese, gorging themselves in a land of excess, which is using poorer countries’ land to grow the huge amounts of food, and everything else that it demands.
“Does this not strike you as odd? The USA tries to push its GM crops on to other countries, pretending this is for the best, whilst there is such an obvious divide between rich and poor. A divide that could be bridged simply by the rich countries consuming less, and the poor countries being given political and financial help, and the choice to use their land in whatever way they choose.
“The relationship between the biotech companies who produce genetically modified crops, and the United States government is complicated, but it can be easily summarised.
“The US government promises to force countries, both rich and poor, to accept GM crops. In return, the biotech companies, Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta and others, fund the election campaigns of the American politicians, from the President, right down to the lowliest representative. Money buys power. As long as more GM crops are being used, along with the recommended pesticides and herbicides (also manufactured by the same biotech companies) then these companies will get richer and richer – and their friends in the government get more and more funding, and more and more power.
“This terrible abuse of power, and enormous greed is what now drives the GM food industry. No-one needs GM crops, there is plenty of food to go round already – unfortunately the western world wants to keep it all.
“I urge you to reject the use of GM crops in the UK. By doing this you will send a powerful message to the GM companies and the USA – this abuse cannot go on.”
Keith Farnish
www.theearthblog.org
www.reduce3.com
And Proud Member Of The Sietch