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  • From: Mark A Abner <wizard1 AT kih.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] A Gene Revolution
  • Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 09:39:19 -0400

Joe
It is an interesting perspective but the thing that it doesnt talk about
that I think is the real danger in gmos is that at least in open polinated
things like corn there is no way to put the genie back into the bottle. If
there
turns out to be a problem with an engineered crop and its been a few years
finding it out the polon ahs allready passed the problem on to other crops and
seed bases and the contamination is so wide spread that it would very well
render and entire spieces of food plant that is an intagral part of our food
system unusable forever.
I think the risk is just too great to balalnce out the potentioal good
There
are plenty of alternitive ways to crop intensively on small plots to procuce
food localy The key I think is to educate the population in an area that is in
food deficite not hand them gmo so they can grow corn like the big boys down
in
Iowa do (no offenc to any Iowa corn farmer intened : ) ) .
Many of these gmo types wouldnt aid poor farmers anyway as they are things
like corn that wont be killed by round up so you have to be growing in a
volume
that makes spraying and large equipment and the investment in the chemicals
and
equipment cost effective.Not a likly senario for a small impoverished
agricultural society.
I guess you can tell that these things scare me to death so will quit
harping on it and close this note : ) It is just to me one more case of useing
helping to poor as a reason to do realy dumb thnigs : )

Mark

Joe Kames wrote:

> This is an interesting perspective from an editorial in yesterday's New York
> Times.
>
> A Call for a Gene Revolution
>
> Published: May 24, 2004
>
> New scientific developments have provoked more shouting than genetically
> modified foods. Plenty of people, especially in Europe, call them
> Frankenfoods and argue that we do not know if they cause cancer or fatal
> allergy. Genetically modified crops, which carry transplanted genes from
> other species to make them easier to grow or more nutritious, should indeed
> be the subject of intense debate - just not this debate.
> Are these foods safe to eat? The evidence is overwhelming that they are, a
> conclusion endorsed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
> last week in its 2004 annual report. The report's main contribution is that
> it focuses on the real problem with genetically modified crops: they are not
> aimed at helping the world's hungry.
> The F.A.O.'s laudable message is that farmers in Africa struggling with a
> patch of millet, cowpeas or cassava - armed only with a hoe and a prayer -
> need crops engineered to resist drought or local pests. Agriculture is the
> livelihood of 70 percent of the world's poor, a population that is growing
> considerably, even as soil and water are becoming depleted. Billions are
> already malnourished because their staple crops supply few nutrients.
> Genetic engineering can help on both counts.
> The poor need a "gene revolution" to follow the 1960's "green revolution,"
> which helped hundreds of millions by increasing the yields of wheat, rice
> and other crops. But so far, there's only been a gene revolution for
> agribusiness. The genetically engineered food industry is controlled by a
> few corporations, such as Monsanto and DuPont. They have little incentive to
> work on crops poor people grow, or to share their licensed technology. To
> allow widespread research on poor-country crops, these companies must
> release the technology for humanitarian use.
> Many poor countries, in addition, are suspicious of genetic engineering. The
> F.A.O. urges them to realize its potential and welcome engineered products.
> Wealthy countries must sponsor research, while critics of modified foods,
> especially in Europe, need to realize that their opposition is harming the
> developing world. They should be working not to ban these foods, but to put
> them in the mouths of the world's hungry.
>
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