Organic News
Mounting Opposition to GM
A recent report produced by Indian NGO Navdanya International and partners in south-east Asia, Africa and Latin America denies industry claims that GM technology as it exists is a benefit to farmers.
Vandana Shiva, director of the group behind The GMO Emperor Has No Clothes: A Global Citizens' Report on the State of GMOs, which was published in October, said, “We have been told that genetically modified crops will save the world. However, the GM emperor has no clothes. All of these claims have been established as false over years of experience all across the world”.
The report claims that hunger has reached "epic proportions" since the technology was developed. Besides this, only two GM "traits" have been developed on any significant scale, despite investments of tens of billions of dollars, and benefits such as drought resistance and salt tolerance have yet to materialise on any scale. According to the report, just three companies have cornered the global seed market, controlling nearly 70 per cent of seed sales; Monsanto, Dupont and Syngenta, the world's three largest biotech companies today control the majority of seed sales worldwide.
It states that soya growers in Argentina and Brazil have been found to use twice as much herbicide on their GM as they do on conventional crops, and a survey by Navdanya International, in India, showed that pesticide use increased 13-fold since Bt cotton was introduced. The study accuses Monsanto of gaining control of over 95% of the Indian cotton seed market and of massively pushing up prices. High levels of indebtedness among farmers is thought to be behind many of the 250,000 deaths by suicide of Indian farmers over the past 15 years.
The organisation’s report also refers to American and Australian studies which found that conventional crops outperform GM crops, including a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, published in the U.S., which concluded genetic engineering has not contributed to yield increases in any crop.
Vandana Shiva concluded that "the GM model of farming undermines farmers trying to farm ecologically. Co-existence between GM and conventional crops is not possible because genetic pollution and contamination of conventional crops is impossible to control. Choice is being undermined as food systems are increasingly controlled by giant corporations and as chemical and genetic pollution spread. GM companies have put a noose round the neck of farmers. They are destroying alternatives in the pursuit of profit."
Gillian Westbrook has been appointed to the new position of
General Manager with IOFGA. Coming from a background in the regulatory area...
If Dr Árpád Pusztai's research work is anything to go by -then GMO's have no place in our society. His work over 20 years ago already raised cause for concern due to illness caused in lab-fed rodents. Bio-Tech companies are increasingly being exposed for trying to cover-up research into their own failures and potential hazards of their products.
If they had nothing to hide why are Bio-Tech companies so opposed to labelling on food products that educate consumers about GMO content? The usual argument is positioned at saving the consumer the extra cost of packaging that re-labelling would require. However, food producers change their packaging all the time and incur these costs without passing them on to the consumer. Even if they did it would be negligible. To my mind the informed consumer would avoid what they did not feel comfortable with and herein lies the concern for Bio-Tech companies.
The scientific evidence and moral arguments against GMO products are mounting. The only ones who could truly decide whether they have a future or not are consumers. I choose organic and conventional products over GMOs for my health and that of my family.
To Bio-Tech companies: Thanks but no thanks. I feel sorry that your quest for profit and shareholder value is affected by my lack of support - but I have myself and my health to think about. Just like you...