We have had fun with this latest SkeptEco Podcast, this time addressing the contentious issue of Genetic Engineering.
I attended an Earth Day conference organized by Sustainable Ireland (now Cultivate) about 10 or 12 years ago in Maynooth which brought together anti-GE activists Vandana Shiva and Dr. Mae-Wan Ho with a representative from Monsanto. There must have been over 100 people in the conference hall; I’d guess every single one was anti-GM, and certainly anti-Monsanto. Many had been involved in pulling up GE trial crops, or would have been ready to.
That includes me, and if you had asked me just a few months ago I might have felt the same- in particular the thought of “Terminator Genes” could only send a shiver down one’s back and there is an understandable suspicion of big apparently unaccountable companies making money from controlling our food supply.
But it turns out Terminator Genes were never marketed, and their original purpose was as a safeguard against the dangers of GE crops seeding into the wild with possibly unintended consequences.
Many GE crops have been developed by independent universities and Government agencies, and not even always for profit. Could it be that GE crops, which after all represent a biological technique (rather than a chemical one) may not be the feared next step of corporate industrial food, but may actually provide a way out of over-industrialised chemical-based farming practices?
A key reference for our podcast is the remarkable book Tomorrow’s Table by Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchuk. You can find the Ronald’s website of the same name here. Their book suggests the potential for a surprising marriage between organics and GE- if only the Organics regulations would permit its use.
The bottom line is this: the peer-reviewed science suggests no special dangers in GE crops, and satisfactory regulatory measures. (Contrast this with clear dangers in some “conventional” “foods” eg some soda drinks.)
GE is essentially just a more precise means of plant breeding, no different in its basic outcomes than the aeons of plant breeding farmers have always engaged in, and unlike for example hybrid varieties- which are accepted even by organic standards- in most cases, the farmers can still save their seeds from these improved varieites.
Scaremongering and calling for a total ban is likely to only push the companies into more secrecy, making regulation more difficult. Instead, it beholds all of us to become informed about what could be a very useful technology for us all.
See the SkeptEco website for more references.
Hello Graham,
Very interesting. I’ve always wondered about that side of GE – that it is no different from what Gregor Mendel was up to all those years ago. I suppose the main concern is the control that Monsanto et al have on agriculture and, specifically, funding for such projects and their subsequent monopoly thereof. Also, I’m not sure it’s such a great idea to encourage further overpopulation – there will always be a peak from which we will come crashing down and do we really want that? There is still the biodiversity issue after all – even if crops can be made chemical-free and high yielding, if the population continues to grow we will still find that our wildernesses will be cut back to feed the population. Ideally we would aim for a 3-way marriage – between the role of organic farming with the use of GE to reduce chemical use and increase yields and simultaneously still striving for a controlled reduction in population. Indeed, if such crops were to become widespread and cheap (by ensuring companies like Monsanto don’t have a monopoly) then perhaps agricultural communities in poorer nations would not feel the need to provide cheap labour by having so many children? Though that’s hardly the problem at all really – rather social issues, lack of family planning and aid are continuing to fuel overpopulation there… And here? Pig-headed stubbornness and ignorance? Therefore I fail to see how such crops would result in depopulation at all. Anyway, like everything else to do with sustainability, it all seems an ideal in the realms of wonderland… But fascinating all the same. I do wonder how we will bridge the gap between ensuring a sustainable, high-yielding food supply and controlling the population? Bring back New Labour to the UK – Education, education, education?! ;o)
Just stopped by your blog for the first time in a little while Graham – really excited by this podcast, looking forward to having a listen over the weekend. I hope it really takes off, I’ll certainly spread the word among my green friends.