To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org, dreamtime@yahoogroups.com
Cc:
Subject: [permaculture] The scent of GE Papaya
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 08:47:26 -0500
The scent of GE Papaya
Thu 03 July 2003
THAILAND/Bangkok
Papaya is the latest target of the genetic engineering (GE) industry.
The Thai government is seeking to introduce the crop to Thailand
despite the fact that GE papaya has already been a failure in Hawaii,
the only place in the world where GE papaya is grown commercially.
Behind this push are the GE industry's big players, hoping to expand
corporate control of the food chain into Asia.
Papaya is a staple food in some parts of South-East Asia. It is a vital
part of the Thai kitchen and features in famous local Thai dishes such
as Som Tam, a spicy papaya salad.
Why play with nature's green papaya?
Papaya grown on monoculture plantations, as is the practice on the
island of Hawaii, the United States' 50th State, suffer from ringspot
virus. Plant diseases and pests flourish in these unnatural, intensive
plantations.
Thai farmers traditionally combat ringspot by growing papaya with other
crops. The insects that transmit the virus are controlled with
environmentally friendly techniques. GE papaya is, therefore, an
unnecessary solution to a problem that can be controlled naturally.
Rather than advocating a change in farming practices to deal with the
virus, scientists decided that playing with nature was the better
option.
A science based on luck
They decided to make the plant resistant to the virus by adding a gene
from the virus to the papaya cell, along with other virus and
antibiotic resistance genes. In tampering with evolution, you might
expect that at least the scientists know what they are doing. But
apparently they have no idea how the virus gene actual makes the papaya
resistant to the virus. Not only this, but the scientists have also
said that they could not control which type of papaya to make into GE
papaya because it's a random process, based on luck.
Lucky for whom?
Five years after the GE papaya strain 'Sun Up' was approved in Hawaii,
scientists have discovered that it is actually more susceptible to
other plant diseases such as 'blackspot' fungus. Now the blackspot
fungus is spreading among GE papaya in Hawaii. So the scientists' luck
in getting Sun Up to become GE is bad luck for farmers who now have a
new disease problem. Farmers who grow GE papaya must spray toxic
chemical fungicides on their papaya every 10 days.
Spreading the seeds of disaster to Thailand
The Thai authorities, along with those backing GE papaya (like
Monsanto, which holds several GMO papaya patents), are rushing through
the GE papaya's introduction in Thailand without adequate testing. Are
they rushing because GE papaya is so beneficial? Not according to the
farmers who have been growing it in Hawaii.
No market for GE papaya
"When GMO papaya was introduced 5 years ago they claimed it was a
'solution' to the papaya ringspot virus problem. But instead it has
caused serious environmental and economic problems for farmers," said
Melanie Bondera, a sustainable agriculture farmer and member of the
Hawaii Genetic Engineering Action Network (HIGEAN) on Big Island,
Hawaii.
When they started growing GE papaya, Hawaiian farmers lost their
biggest export markets, with devastating results. The selling price of
GMO papaya fell to 30-40 percent below production costs, and the price
that farmers now get for their GMO papaya is 600 percent lower than the
price for organic papaya.
Corporate control of the food chain
The patent holders "act like God - they have way too much power over
nature", said Mike, a farmer sued for unwittingly growing GE papaya
without an official agreement.
Farmers growing GE papaya must follow the rules of those who hold the
patents to the GE papaya - in Thailand that's transnational
corporations and overseas universities. And there are up to 20 US and
international patents that could be applied to GE papaya in Thailand,
including patents held by the GE giant, Monsanto.
What this means in practice is that seeds cannot be saved or exchanged
and farmers can be sued if their crops become contaminated by GE papaya.
In Hawaii, many organic farmers' papaya trees were contaminated by GE -
by pollen from neighbouring GE papaya trees, or when GE papaya seeds
got mixed in with organic seeds. They were forced to destroy all their
papaya trees.
"These guys own the wind", said one farmer commenting on the corporate
interests behind GE papaya and its contamination of conventional and
organic papaya.
The 'Papaya Freedom Fighters'
As if that weren't enough, three years ago an attempt was made to
destroy all non-GE papaya trees in Hawaii. Fortunately the farmers
realised that the real aim behind the plans was to force them all
farmers to grow GE papaya. They formed the 'Papaya Freedom Fighters'
and stopped the destruction of their crops.
It's not too late for Thailand
The consequences of growing GE papaya in Thailand are feared to be even
more serious than Hawaii. Not only is green papaya eaten as a daily
staple food, it is also grown everywhere - in farmers' fields,
schoolyards and backyard gardens.
"The message that the Hawaiian farmers bring to us...is clear: we must
not allow GE papaya to be released into the environment. It's not too
late. We must act now to say no to GE papaya," said Varoonvarn
Svansopakul, GE Campaigner for Greenpeace.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international_en//features/
details?item_id=290584&campaign_id=
[permaculture] The scent of GE Papaya,
mIEKAL aND, 07/07/2003