GMOs for Profit: The Missing Context of Industrial Agriculture [View all]

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GMOs for Profit: The Missing Context of Industrial Agriculture

Thursday, 14 November 2013 00:00
By Curt Ries, Truthout | Op-Ed

It is not what GMOs are that should demand so much attention but, rather, what they do: They lead to corporate control over the food system.

An editorial in Science from September 2013 has come out in strong defense of GMO biotechnology, criticizing the destruction of experimental GM Golden Rice fields in the Philippines by protesters, or "vandals." Since then, the blogosphere has erupted with condemners and defenders once again accusing each other of ascribing to bad science, being ideologically driven and profiteering from their respective movements.

But while the narrow debate rages on about the inherent safety or harm of GMOs to humans and the environment, the more fundamental issue of the specific role GMOs play within the greater context of a globalized and industrial agriculture is left without comment.

The editorial, titled "Standing Up for GMOs," is sponsored by 11 scientists and focuses on the potential utility of Golden Rice, ultimately using it to portray GMO technology in general as a valuable tool that society should use because of its "potential to save millions of impoverished fellow humans from needless suffering and death."

This type of narrow analysis, focusing almost singularly on the dormant ability of GM crops to feed and nutritionally supplement the world's growing population is astoundingly selective and therefore significantly misleading. It is a far cry from seeing how GMO technology actually functions within the broader framework of industrial agriculture, a model of production that is completely focused on profits, efficiency and yields, rather than the health of people and places. .........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/19997-gmos-for-profit-the-missing-context-of-industrial-agriculture