Wednesday, 31 October
2012 15:26 By Dr Vandana Shiva,
The only reason crops
have been genetically engineered is to take patents on seeds, and collect
royalties. If during colonialism the concept of Terra Nullius, empty land,
allowed the takeover of land and territories by the colonizer, a new concept of
Bio Nullius, empty life, is being used to claim “intellectual property rights”
on seeds, biodiversity and life forms.
But life is not empty. Seeds are not an
invention. They embody millions of years of biological evolution, and thousands
of years of cultural evolution and farmers breeding. When corporations claim
patents, they basically “pirate” traits that nature and farmers have evolved.
They pirate and patent the aroma of basmati, the low gluten qualities of our
native wheat, the salt tolerant, drought tolerant, flood tolerant traits of
climate resilience our farmers have bred. This is not innovation and invention,
it is Biopiracy. The only traits that the corporations have introduced into
plants through genetic engineering are the toxic traits of Bt toxin and
herbicide resistance. Besides being toxic, these traits have not reduced
chemical use as has been repeatedly claimed. Our studies in Vidharba show a
13-fold increase in pesticide use since Bt cotton was introduced.
A report, published
in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe, shows that genetically engineered
crops have led to a 404 million pound increase in overall pesticide use from
the time they were introduced in 1996 through 2011. This equates to an increase
of about seven percent over the last 16 years.
The data on increased
chemical use shows that the claim that Bt toxin crops will reduce pesticide use
and herbicide resistant crops will reduce herbicide use, is false.
As the Navdanya
report, “The GMO Emperor has no Clothes “shows, genetically modified crops have
led to resistance, both in weeds and pests, demanding higher use of pesticides
and herbicides. More than two dozen weed species are now resistant to
glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Monsanto's broad-spectrum herbicide
Roundup and farmers are being asked to spray Agent Orange, that was used in the
Vietnam War.
The only way
corporations can push GMO seeds on farmers is by destroying alternatives. They
do this by blocking public breeding. India’s premier cotton research institute
in Nagpur has not released a single variety in Vidharba since Monsanto entered
the cotton seed market. The second strategy is to lock local companies into licensing
arrangements. 60 Indian Seed companies only sell Monsanto’s Bt cotton. The
third strategy is to make local seeds illegal through compulsory licensing and
registration laws. This was attempted in 2004 with the Seed Act. It took a seed
Satyagraha organized by us across the country, and a parliamentary committee to
prevent it from coming into force. But in Europe Seed laws are already
criminalizing biodiversity and farmers breeding. This is why we have joined
together as a Global Citizen’s Alliance for Seed Freedom, to call for No
Patents on Seeds, and No to Seed laws that promote industrial seeds and make
local, open pollinated varieties illegal. The Global Citizens report on Seed
Freedom (www.seedfreedom.in) written
jointly by more than 120 groups and individuals was released on 1st October in Delhi. A
fortnight of actions for Seed Freedom was across the world undertaken from
Gandhi’s birth anniversary 2nd October, to World
Food Day 16th October.
Seed is the first
link in the food chain. And Seed Wars are leading to Food Wars. The California
ballot initiative on labeling of GMO foods is the most current contest between
citizen’s Right to Know and Choose and Corporate Rights to force feed GMOs.
As Alexis Baden-Mayer,
Political Director for the Organic Consumers Association, pointed out at an
Occupy Wall Street teach-in in Washington DC in early April: “The California
Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act ballot initiative is a perfect
example of how the grassroots 99% can mobilize to take back American democracy
from the corporate bullies, the 1%.”
Seed Wars and Food
wars are becoming knowledge wars. Just before the California initiative, an
article was planted in the media across the world arguing that Organic Foods
have no Health Benefit. It turns out that the so-called scientists from
Stanford had done similar work for Big Tobacco during the debate on smoking.
While fraud science
is used to promoting GMOs, independent public scientists who do high quality
research on the Biosafety and health and environmental impact of GMOs, which is
a legally binding obligation under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, are
attacked by an organized mafia working for industry parading as scientists. Dr
Arpad Putzai of the UK was driven out of his job when the results of his study
commissioned by the UK Government showed that the brains of the rats in his
feeding study had shrunk, the pancreas had expanded, and the immunity had
collapsed. More recently a study published by Dr. Seralini in Food and Chemical
Toxicology showed that:
·
Death rates in rats fed the Roundup-Ready GM maize were 2-5 times
that of the control group.
·
Female rats had a shockingly high incidence of mammary tumours
(80% by the time that they died)
·
Male rats suffered significant levels of liver and kidney damage.
·
Tumours were huge - and many animals had 3 tumours by the time
they died.
The Indian Supreme
Court set up a Technical Expert Committee to advise it on the gaps in the
scientific Biosafety assessment of GMOs. The committee recommended a moratoriun
on field trials of all GMO Bt crops, an assessment of the special problems of
Herbicide tolerant crops, and a ban on all trials of GMO crops of which India
is the Centre of Diversity. These include:
· Sugar, Oil, and
Fiber Plants: sugar cane,
coconut palm, sesame, safflower, tree cotton, oriental
cotton, jute, crotalaria, kenaf
· Spices, Stimulants,
Dyes, and Miscellaneous: hemp, black pepper, gum arabic, sandalwood, indigo, cinnamon tree, croton, bamboo.
The Supreme Court is
supposed to ensure that the executive, the government functions
constitutionally. The GMO lobby has written to the Prime Minister to try and
undo the work of the Supreme Court and its Technical committee. This is a
subversion of our constitution.
A report,
“Cultivation of Genetically Modified Food Crops – Prospects and Effects”, was
tabled by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture in August in Lok
Sabha.
Releasing the report at a press conference, the chairperson of the committee, Mr Basudeb Acharia said, “The committee has come to the conclusion that since concerns on the potential and actual impacts of GM crops to our food, farming, health and environment are valid, GM crops are just not the right solution for our country.”
Releasing the report at a press conference, the chairperson of the committee, Mr Basudeb Acharia said, “The committee has come to the conclusion that since concerns on the potential and actual impacts of GM crops to our food, farming, health and environment are valid, GM crops are just not the right solution for our country.”
Again the GMO lobby
writes to the Prime Minister to undo the recommendations of the Parliamentary
committee.
Since GMOs can only spread through seed
monopolies, the destruction of our democracy and the integrity of science and
knowledge, we are better off without them.
Source: http://truth-out.org/news/item/12456-gmos-seed-wars-and-knowledge-wars
Source: http://truth-out.org/news/item/12456-gmos-seed-wars-and-knowledge-wars
Dr Vandana Shiva
Dr. Vandana Shiva is a philosopher, environmental activist and eco feminist. She has fought for changes in the practice and paradigms of agriculture and food, and assisted grassroots organizations of the Green movement in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Ireland, Switzerland, and Austria with campaigns against genetic engineering. In 1982, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, which led to the creation of Navdanya in 1991, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seed, the promotion of organic farming and fair trade. She is author of numerous books including,Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis; Stolen Harvest: The hijacking of the Global food supply; Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace; and Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development. Shiva has also served as an adviser to governments in India and abroad as well as NGOs, including the International Forum on Globalization, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization and the Third World Network. She has received numerous awards, including 1993 Right Livelihood Award (Alternative Nobel Prize) and the 2010 Sydney Peace Prize.
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