But on another subject now i feel needs to be adressed fast. The whole world needs to discuss this, and it is happening a bit, but let’s please conribute to that.

Genetic Modification.

There are many objections to it’s rapid spreading and there are many opinions on it. But there is also a lot to know about it.

I know one argument for developing it is that it would feed the world, but that is nonsense. There is enough food in the world everyday for about 12 bilion of us, so for about 4 billion of us to be hungry everyday is not a problem of there not being food,. It is a matter of the food not being distributed equally.

Then increasing crop yield: From all over the world reports describe a decline of the yield but also of quality, and most of all of the soil being depleted as fast as within 5 to 10 years.

That is 2 wrongs adressed, know for the part where it becomes allmost to shady to imagine.

By far the biggest player in this field is Monsanto. For years now they have been selling genetically modified seeds to poor farmers in developing countries often helped by the Worldbank, IMF, and poverty relief projects of the G8. Also they have been imposing getically modified seeds and the accompaniïng pesticides on farmers in the US and Canada. Some cooperate , but others refuse and stick to their original methods. In time it is pretty certain their lands will be ‘infected’ with gen-tech variations by polination. In this case the farmer is sued for millions and Monsanto claims the rights to the crop. For details on this check Percy Schmeiser’s story. There are hundreds of such cases.

Monsanto’s aim is to control the complete world food market and they don’t do much do keep that a secret. The next thing that they are doing even shook me.

Monsanto has now patented the DNA of pigs. In time they want to manipulate it to make the ideal meatpig. Maybe it will turn out to be square or somethning.

This is of course pretty sick in itsself, how could anyone patent any other living being? But the even stranger thing is: at this moment farmers might very well have pigs of the same DNA type in their shed or field or barn, and they are now Monsanto’s property!

This brings us to the corporate factor. Monsanto is an incredibly wealthy company. Their money allows them to influence governments and they also get support from the worldbank, IMFand G8. Development plans sometimes explicitly include the use of gen-tech crop to ‘increase food security’. That the cheap leftovers from the worldmarket that are dumped in these countries kill the market for this food, escapes their attention.

In the Netherlands, and most of Europe, you won’t find much genetically modified food in our shops. Most people are not even aware of this. It is the work of environmental groups like greenpeace, they pressure spuermarkets etc. not to sell it. This works pretty well. In the whole of europe only a few products contain gen-tech. 

But the corporates keep trying. Recently a new cheap brand of mayonaise appeared, and it turned out to contain Gen-Tech. Greenpeace was immediatly on the case but could not prevent it appearing in almost all different supermarkets within 2 weeks.

Another thing. Gen Tech ís in dairyproducts and meat everywhere (and that’s a big piece of the market). In these products consuming Gen-Tech is unavoidable allready if you don’t eat and drink organic. This is due to the animalfeed wich these days is mainly made up of soy, which is usually Gen-Tech. For example, Mato Grosso, a large state in Brazil, where the gouvernor is also the boss of  the biggest soy company;  Maggi Group, is planted full of it. In its place used to be rainforest. This film is shot in Argentina, but the situation in Mato Grosso is the same. Or worse.

So, exept for supporting people like Percy Schmeiser, what can we do?

I think we need to think about his very well. Genetic modification has the potency to squeeze the last bit of biodiversity out of our world. Such a technique in the hands of multinational corporate monsters seems a recipe for destruction.

Who has an opinion? Who has an expirience with it? Who knows more? Let’s hear it.