GMOs HAVE GOT TO
GO!
The corporate-driven growth of
genetically-manipulated (GM) crops and the
patenting of life forms are phenomena that
have abruptly and violently forced their
way into the public consciousness. The
so-called "Gene Giants" – Monsanto,
Aventis, DuPont, Novartis and AstraZeneca –
have been busy wooing governments and
regulators, dreaming up deadly and
profitable schemes such as "Terminator"
seeds and giant mutant livestock and fish,
patenting anything in sight including the
genes of indigenous peoples and traditional
plants, stocking supermarket shelves with
untested and potentially harmful
"Frankenfoods", and spending millions of
dollars on public relations schemes to
paint a more sympathetic face on the
biotech industry.
Most unbelievably, it seems today as if
the food biotech industry is on the verge
of being terminated itself, thanks to the
groundswell of resistance against GM food
and life patents in every part of the
world. Farmers are turning against
unpopular and unpredictable GM crops.
Damning new scientific evidence on GMOs is
turning up with increasing frequency.
Activists in Europe and North America are
ripping up biotech plants by the light of
the moon. The infamous Neem tree patent has
been overturned following a challenge by
civil society. Consumers everywhere are
refusing to buy GM food, and more and more
often turning towards organic agriculture.
Even the corporate world is nervous about
biotech food, with major fast food chains
dropping GMO ingredients like hot
potatoes.
This issue brings you both the bad news
and the good news about the biotech food
revolution and its counter-revolution. GMOs
are without a doubt the least democratic
and most unpopular new technology since
nuclear energy, and their potential to
catalyze global ecological and social
disaster is terrifying. But the opposition
is also daunting, and Friends of the Earth
is proud to be among the masses of people
everywhere rejecting this uncontrolled
experiment. Let us hope that in the
not-so-distant future we will be able to
tell our grandchildren about one of our
greatest campaign victories, the squelching
of industry’s attempts to forcefeed the
world.
Ricardo Navarro, FoEI Chair, El
Salvador
