Global aspects

"The recent expansion of international trade agreements to include intellectual property rights threatens the sustainability of local ecosystems, the rights of indigenous peoples, the ability of nations to provide food security, and protection of the global environment."

Contents

Introduction "at a glance"

Globalization of Biotechnological Agriculture and the world hunger problem

Third World reactions to globalization attempts

Patenting of life paves the way for global application biotechnology

Introduction

The strongest argument to make governments accept Genetically Engneered food has been that it will provide crops that increase food production. This appears to be a scientifically unsubstantiated myth. A recent scientific report even shows that world hunger is not at all due to food scarcity but is caused by increasing poverty in developing countries (see World hunger - a myth). In addition it has not yet been proven that any really valuable crop that would increase food productivity can be developed with gene technology (see article on difficulites with GE)

On the contrary African scientists think "it will destroy the diversity, the local knowledge and the sustainable agricultural systems that our farmers have developed for millennia and that it will thus undermine our capacity to feed ourselves."

In addition, global agriculture based on biotechnology is expected to cause important socioeconomic changes wich increased poverty as such farming requires good finances. Thereby and by destroying traditions of sustainable agriculture, it might even lead to increased world hunger (see the Vancouver statement).

• Globalization of Biotechnological Agriculture and the world hunger problem

• The Vancouver Statement On the Globalization and Industrialization of Agriculture
  Excerpt: "Reducing farming to a monocultural, synthetic, transnational corporate business threatens the health, nourishment, right livelihood, and spirituality of communities and the earth. It is insane to believe that we must poison land and water and waste the soil in order to feed and clothe ourselves. Five decades of the so-called Green Revolution have not only led to the destruction and contamination of water, soil, biodiversity, and human communities, but exacerbated hunger worldwide"

• It is a myth that world hunger is due to scarcity of food  Increased food production is not the solution according to Peter Rosset, director of the Institute for Food and Development Policy in California.

• Haven't We Been Here Before? The Green Revolution (5 kB). (Cornerhouse). The green revolution was the breakthrough for industrial agriculture in the Third World. Although it undoubtedly increased food production, it singularly failed to address the problem of world hunger. This is part of the next paper on this list.

• Food? Health? Hope?: Genetic Engineering and World Hunger (NOTE: 213 kB). Cornerhouse Briefing. Very comprehensive and informative. Addresses the problems with industrial agriculture including biotechnology from a broad perspective with special reference to world hunger.

• Can genetic engineering produce crops that increase food production? Due to limitations in the technology it is not possible to insert multiple genes which would be required in order to promote increased food productivity. There are no indications that successful such manipulations will be possible in the foreseeable future.

Third World reactions to globalization attempts

New! (Nov. 1998) Indians resists genetically engineered crops  A nationwide network of Indian groups demands a ban on all genetic engineering trials, a change of the Biosafety regulations to ensure people's participation in decisions about genetic engineering and a five year moratorium on all commercial releases and total ban on import of genetic engineered foods and crops .

(Aug. 1998 ) African Scientists Condemn Monsanto Latest Tactics and Call for European Support  "We do not believe that such companies or gene technologies will help our farmers to produce the food that is needed in the 21st century. On the contrary, we think it will destroy the diversity, the local knowledge and the sustainable agricultural systems that our farmers have developed for millennia and that it will thus undermine our capacity to feed ourselves."

Biotechnology from a third world perspective, by dr Vandana Shiva

Terminator Technology - a potential threat to third world agriculture

• New! Terminator genes at large. Covertly, crops using the the highly problematic terminator technology have been released in the US and UK. These crops pose important risks in addition to those of non-terminator GE crops.
• Terminator Technology [EL]  An introduction.
• How the Terminator terminates.  [ML]  An explanation for the non-scientist of a remarkable patent for killing second generation seeds of crop plants. Includes a discussion of potential hazards.

Patenting of life paves the way for global application biotechnology

Problems with the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) agreements