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Are you for life or are you for death?
The honest answer from some of the greens would be: for death.
The biggest eye-opener for me at the WSSD was on Genetically Modified (GM)
Crops. My training is in physics and engineering and so I do not know much
about the biological sciences. I had listened vaguely to arguments for and
against GM crops, thinking on balance that they were probably quite a good
thing, but now I have changed my mind.
What changed it was listening to three small farmers, one from the Philippines,
one from India and one from northern KwaZulu-Natal (one Mr Buthelezi).
They were part of discussions held by the Sustainable
Development Network. All three told the same story, and the story startled
me.
They are all small farmers, depending for survival on little crops of maize and
cotton. Their crops were attacked continuously by two ruthless enemies,
the bollworm and the corn borer. They devastated the crops. To try to
control them the farmers used large amounts of pesticides, which destroyed all
the beneficial insects, poisoned the soil, damaged their health and killed one
of their workers. The farmers were desperate. And then they were
given GM seeds.
It changed their lives. They were Bt seeds (Bacillus thuringiensis), which
provide the plants with a natural defense against the pests. The crop
yields doubled or trebled. They did not have to use pesticides any
more, which saved them money and improved their health. Beneficial insects
came back. For the first time ever, these small farmers began to make
enough money to improve their living standards. They benefited and the
environment benefited.
That night on the TV, I saw a sleek, rich, young white British woman from
Greenpeace being interviewed on the subject of GM crops. She said they
should not be used until we had done years more testing. The message of
death from Greenpeace was clear: "You darkies must go hungry, poison your
soil and destroy your biodiversity until we, the wise white Bwanas from Europe,
decide that GM crops are acceptable."
The sickening, condescending, callous, racist arrogance of Greenpeace!
Meanwhile, I have changed my mind on GM crops. I used to believe they were
probably a good thing, I now believe they are a wonderful thing.
Here’s to science, life and GM crops! Here’s to a healthy planet for
all our people, plants and animals
Andrew Kenny 7 Sept 2002
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