Genetically modified people

Genetically modified people

Genetically modified (GM) food crops are widespread in the USA and some countries but are banned in many others, including some countries that count as America’s closest allies. Why? Because independent studies in Europe and elsewhere have revealed that rats fed with GM foods developed genetic defects and became diseased. But GM food is accepted without reservation in the USA and the US government has waged a decade long campaign to persuade or even force other nations (through the World Trade Organisation) to accept the genetically modified seed that is made principally by one giant US corporation, Monsanto (makers of the notorious Agent Orange that decimated Vietnam’s fields) which has 90% of this market, followed by Dow Chemicals and Syngenta AG. These seeds include maize, wheat, rice, soya bean, rapeseed, cotton and even some vegetables.

The technology used to create genetically modified seed is highly advanced if not bizarre. It is called recombinant genetic technology. Scientists splice extraneous genes into the genetic make up (the DNA) of normal seed to produce plants that are resistant to pests and some common viruses faced by plants in the field in their natural condition. Commonly, the plant disease causing bacterium, bacillus thuringiensis, is introduced. It is known that these introduced genes are drawn from toxins that repel plant pests and viruses so GM seeds produce crops that are pest free and apparently healthy and more productive. But there is sinister evidence that there is more devilry at work here. Plants grown with GM seeds produce sterile grains that cannot be used as planting material. So farmers are forever wholly dependent on the corporations that produce GM seed for planting material.

In India, cotton farmers induced to use Monsanto’s GM seed discovered that these super-seeds led to the evolution of super-bugs requiring increased pesticide use and more irrigation, resulting in unexpected losses. Indian journalists claim that around 125,000 bankrupted small farmers committed suicide. The long term consequences of this new technology are still unproven.

GM seeds are protected by patents that are as secure as a chastity belt. If GM seeds are accidentally blown by winds from a farm into another that scorns GM, the recipient of this unwanted seed is held accountable by the courts for theft and must pay damages to the GM seed corporation. It is not funny, because fines had to be paid. If that sounds ridiculous to thinking people, pause awhile to consider this. The US Congress recently passed legislation which makes it a crime for independent laboratories to test GM foods for toxicity or any other reason. The US Food and Drug Agency, which is designed to protect consumers, does not do testing either but accepts the test results given to them by the GM seed manufacturers. So it is a crime for people to verify whether the food they eat is safe for human consumption. Even the much reviled North Korean dictatorship could not possibly dream of such a draconian law!

The rest of the world must know by now that the US is governed by corporate power. Corporations donate billions to get politicians elected to office and politicians repay them a thousand fold at public expense in numerous ways. It is a good deal. What about the citizens of this democracy? Are they blind to their self interest?

Not all of them. There has been an ongoing campaign by concerned and enlightened citizens to request the government to label GM foods so that consumers have a choice they can make at the point of purchase in the retail store. This has been accepted in some other countries but rejected by the US government. The citizens of the State of Washington in the USA, with a population of 5.9 million, put it to the ballot (Initiative 522) seeking a referendum on this issue, a few weeks ago. Three small counties in California were successful in doing this.

At first, public opinion polls suggested that 22 to 1 were in favour of labelling GM foods. Then the powerful corporate machinery stepped in. An advertising and propaganda blitz costing US$22 million turned the tide and the proposal was defeated. How? Why? The corporate propaganda informed consumers that labeling food as GM would increase food prices by 50%, adding to their current economic woes. The irrationality of this contention did not occur to a public trained like Pavlov’s creatures to accept as gospel what the corporate media advertisements told them. The proposition was only asking for the availability of information for a consumer choice. If labelled, some would choose the presumably cheaper GM product and others would opt to pay a little more to buy a natural product, if price was a factor. In fact, GM seeds have not made food cheaper, anyway. And labelling has no added cost. All foods in bulk or in consumer packs are branded and labelled and consumer packs are also required to list the ingredients. So additional labelling would include three additional words: “A GM product” or a “Non GM product’ on the existing label.

Has some of the world population itself been so genetically modified by corporate power to ignore their own self interest?

Kenneth Abeywickrama

12 November 2013.

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