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GM feeds world? Don’t fall for spin

Posted on August 26, 2009 | 24 comments

marrowman

Did you see yesterday’s print supplement to the Guardian?

Titled Agriculture, produced by the Lyonsdown media group, it was basically a huge advert for intensive farming.

Including promoting the use of GM crops in Africa.

Warning! Spin-alert!

Don’t fall for the propaganda even if (especially if!) it comes with an ever-so-liberal paper such as the Guardian.

It is blatantly calculated to appeal to caring Guardian-reader types.

What makes me so cross is the way Africa is used in the sales talk.

Let us get one thing straight.

There is NO GM crop being grown commercially that improves yield. The only ones being grown are designed to make intensive farming tidier.

Currently, GM plants are engineered to be resistent to pesticide-spraying. This means when a farm sprays the field, the GM crops won’t die.

How this is supposed to help a farmer in Africa?

All it does is increase dependency on agrichemical companies. The farmers have to buy the GM seed (which cannot be saved) AND the pesticides to go with it AND the licence to use it all.

One of the authors is Professor Derek Burke known as the godfather of biotech.

He writes how organic farmers are a “wealthy lobby group” preventing GM progress.

– see pic above for evidence of “wealthy lobby group”.

So, according to the professor, a section representing 2% 0f the UK food industry, and made up of mainly small family farms, is the only thing holding back GM world domination?

No mention of the European public which does not want GM.

No mention of the African farmers who do not want GM.

And strangely, no mention of the marketing budget of agrichemical corporations such as Monsanto and Bayer which are aggressively pushing their risky, unproven GM technology.

I wonder what the marketing-spend is on a supplement such as the one in the Guardian?

I can’t imagine a GM company is short of a bob or two for its PR war.

24 Comments

Posted in food, health, rant, sustainable

Tagged GE crops, GM crops, GM yields, The Guardian

GM? No way, no thanks

Posted on September 22, 2008 | 7 comments

First, an advert for healthy eating brought to you by Earthmother productions. Worried about your health? Eat organic and for colour! Nature has kindly colour-coordinated its plant nutrients so you can mix-and-match. Step forward orange carotenoids for vitamin A production and purple and deeply-green antioxidants for cell-restoration.

If the veg is organic you get more antioxidants for your money. Here’s why: if you spray a plant with pesticides (which is how most western food is grown), then its ability to produce antioxidants is decreased. Antioxidants are the fighting army that protect a plant from pests and there are more in organic food because the organic plant gets to keep its antioxidant army. Fade on ad.

And the UK government wants to re-open the GM debate! Crikey, as if we don’t have enough to contend with just trying to grow a few unsprayed organic veg.

GM crops are modified in a lab to tolerate a herbicide (weed killer) or produce an insecticide (insect killer). Farmers have to buy the GM seed and the proprietary pesticide (umbrella term for herbicide, insecticide and fungicide).

If GM seeds or pollen arrive accidentally on a field, GM companies can sue farmers for patent-infringement. California voted to protect farmers against such lawsuits in August. It’s more fair if the polluter-company pays for GM contamination, as the Welsh Assembly government proposes – and not the hapless farmer.

The pro-GM marketing spin says GM can feed the world – how selfish of me to stop a technology that saves the hungry! But it’s a lie. There are no GM crops designed to help the poor. The current GM crops are engineered for insect and weed-spraying – not to improve yields, vitamin A, drought-prevention or any of the other mythical scenarios dreamed up by well-meaning but misguided press officers.

The (so-called) environment minister, Phil Woolas, said people like me have a year to prove GM is unsafe.

A body of evidence is growing; the ill-health effects on animals is well-documented. But the fact is the science has not been done. Commercial planting of GM especially in the US has pushed ahead regardless. Listen, there has only been one trial published worldwide on humans eating GM food. And that showed worrying results.

I think we need more science on the health effects of GM.

And, Woolas – it’s not up to me to provide it.

On a gentler note: the ingredients for supper came from Better Food organic supermarket, which also grew the organic veg 12 miles away. The chard was steamed, the carrots grated and the beetroot, cut very small, was – new discovery – pan-fried in olive oil for 20 minutes with sliced onion. Served on a bed of brown rice; 1 mug of rice to 2 mugs of water, simmered for 30 minutes – enough for two, and a rice salad the next day.