[PEN-L:361] NGOs Challenge Monsanto (fwd)

[michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Forwarded message:
Delivered-To: michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Delivered-To: michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Sid Shniad <shniad@xxxxxx>
Subject: NGOs Challenge Monsanto (fwd)
To: ccpa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives)
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 09:54:24 -0700 (PDT)
X-UID: 1015

> London Independent  July 25, 1998
>
> By Louise Jury
>
> Aid agencies have united to condemn one of the biggest genetic
> engineering companies for using the Third World to justify its products.
>
> The company, Monsanto, has been seeking support from leading figures in
> Africa and Asia for its claims that biotechnology can "feed the world".
>
> An advertising campaign expected to start later this year says, "Let the
> harvest begin". But furious aid agencies have criticised the promotion
> as "misleading and manipulative". And African delegates to the United
> Nations' recent session on plant genetic resources asked for support in
> fighting the biotechnology companies.
>
> In a joint statement, the UN delegates said: "We ... strongly object
> that the image of the poor and hungry from our countries is being used
> by giant multinational corporations to push a technology that is neither
> safe, environmentally friendly nor economically beneficial to us."
>
> But despite their opposition, the Global Business Access lobbying
> company in the United States has circulated a letter asking for
> signatories from the Third World to support Monsanto's claim that we all
> share the "same planet and the same needs".
>
> It said: "Many of our needs have an ally in biotechnology and the
> promising advances it offers for our future. We know that advances in
> biotechnology must be tested and safe, but they should not be unduly
> delayed ... Slowing its acceptance is a luxury our hungry world cannot
> afford."
>
> However, many aid workers believe that recent innovations in farming
> have promoted non-sustainable agriculture and done little to help the
> poorest countries. Andrew Simms, of Christian Aid, said that people went
> hungry because they did not have access to food, not because there was
> not enough of it. Ethiopia, for example, was a net exporter of food
> during its famine when the fighting prevented produce reaching those who
> needed it.
>
> "Monsanto's claims of a tomorrow without hunger thanks to their
> genetically engineered products are cruelly misleading," Mr Simms said.
>
> The aid agencies are particularly worried by Monsanto, because recent
> acquisitions have made it one of the world's most powerful agricultural
> biotechnology companies. It has a stake in every stage of the process,
> from patented genes to a global seed distribution network. Most
> significantly, Monsanto paid $4bn (#2.4bn) for Delta and Pine Land, the
> company which developed and patented "terminator technology", which
> genetically alters seeds so they will not germinate if replanted.
>
> Fears grew further last month when Monsanto announced a partnership with
> the Grameen Bank, a microcredit scheme founded in Bangladesh which
> provides credit to small businesses. Aid agencies fear farmers will be
> encouraged to buy grain and herbicides they cannot afford.
>
> Liz Hosken, of the Gaia Foundation which works to preserve biological
> and cultural diversity, said the poorest countries were being targeted
> as potentially profitable markets.
>
> A #1m advertising campaign launched in Britain last month was designed
> to persuade people that genetically modified crops were safe and a force
> for good in the Third World.
>
> Ms Hosken said: "The fear is if you say something often enough people
> think it is true." She said the major issue for developing nations was
> food security - having locally grown food locally available. But
> terminator technology stopped farmers collecting seeds for use in the
> future while encouraging them to buy in seeds and herbicides.
>
> Laura Kelly, of ActionAid, said Monsanto's efforts to convince the
> public that its technology would benefit farmers were "morally
> abhorrent".
>
> However, a spokesman for Monsanto said yesterday: "We are not saying
> that biotechnology is a panacea. It is one of the ways in which we can
> feed people and has a role to play."
>
> Although the company had bought the terminator technology, it had no
> plans to use it, he said: "The technology is fairly complicated. The
> idea that farmers in the Third World are about to get sterile seeds is
> not true." He added that the information campaign was planned with other
> biotechnology companies.
>



--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx