Dispatches from the Biowars
Greenpeace cofounder-cum-defector Patrick Moore has a piece in the new American Enterprise on the battle over biotech, including a nice description of how the tide turned in India:
For six years, anti-biotech activists managed to prevent the introduction of G.M. crops in India. This was largely the work of Vandana Shiva, the Oxford-educated daughter of a wealthy Indian family, who has campaigned relentlessly to "protect" poor farmers from the ravages of multinational seed companies. In 2002, she was given the Hero of the Planet award by Time magazine for "defending traditional agricultural practices."
Read: poverty and ignorance. It looked like Shiva would win the G.M. debate until 2001, when unknown persons illegally planted 25,000 acres of Bt cotton in Gujarat. The cotton bollworm infestation was particularly bad that year, and there was soon a 25,000 acre plot of beautiful green cotton in a sea of brown. The local authorities were notified and decided that the illegal cotton must be burned. This was too much for the farmers, who could now clearly see the benefits of the Bt variety. In a classic march to city hall with pitchforks in hand, the farmers protested and won the day. Bt cotton was approved for planting in March 2002. One hopes the poverty-stricken cotton farmers of India will become wealthier and deprive Vandana Shiva of her parasitical practice.
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From here it’s hard to tell which has been worse for the Indians; a couple of hundred years of rule by the British Raj or fifty years of rule by the British educated children of their elites.
Fortunately things appear to be changing.
I’ve just found my new career, Bt crop seed smuggler. Imagine how much money you can make selling Bt seeds on the black market in the these countries.
Are you claiming that no GM-crops were planted in India prior to 2001? If that’s the case, then are wrong. GM crops have been planted in at least some areas of India since at least 1996.
JB:
I don’t think that is the claim. I think we are looking at a turning of the tide in public opinion. Shiva started complaining because crops were already being planted, but it took a very visible demonstration of value to overcome her loony anti scientific ramblings.
Jason Ligon,
Alright; of course planting GM-cotton is not worth it in some areas. It doesn’t bring about major cost-savings where insect issues are not much of a problem.
I think the whole “GM-crops will save the world” crowd are as anti-rational as the whole “GM-crops ate my baby” crowd. 🙂
Jean Bart,
GM-crops are like any technology. Use them where they’re appropriate. Don’t use them where they’re not.
There seems to be a major irony in the name of the opposition. Isn’t Shiva the Hindu god who destroys the old to make room for new creations…i.e. creative destruction?
Eryk wins the Hit & Run prize for most excellent association. ;>
I am created Shiva . . . Death, the destroyer of worlds. Good call Eryk.
i’m glad the farmers won.
will these bored do-gooder rich kids ever learn? (probably not)
“defending traditional agricultural practices.”
Groan!
I bet the introduction of crop rotation a few hundred years ago was seen by many as a departure from tradition too.
The blurb pretty much sums up the touchy-feely motives of the defenders of many a “sacred tradition” who are not encumbered by MYOB.
Dare I remind of the “defense of marriage” campaign?
Those darn farmers destroyed the competitive advantage of hunter-gatherers!
This is insulting (your post, not Shiva). There are scores of reasons why GE crops have the potential to do more harm than good. You think one anecdote wins a multi-faceted scientific controversy? And the fact that someone trying to make the world a better place (agree with her ideas or not) was born wealthy entitles you call her a parasite? Come on, I expect such mindless garbage from Ron Bailey, not you, Julian.
Murderous dictators are trying to make the world a better place, too. In their eyes, anyway.
Scores of reasons… phhht. There are basically two dangers unique to transgenic crops: escape of a problematic gene into wild plants, and the occurence of some totally unexpected human toxicity resulting from an engineered plant. Both threats are small, in most cases unimportant, can be (and are) controlled for, and quite frankly are worth tolerating for the wealth of health, economical, and environmental benefits that transgenic crops can offer.
And the parasite comment was in the quoted text from Moore, not in Julian’s. Either way, I agree with it; “parasite” is about the best word to describe Shiva and her ilk. Either Shiva is motivated by greed, and stands to gain a great deal by keeping farmers poor, or simply wants to impose her own warped view on everyone else and damn the consequences it has for the little people.
I’m glad the farmers won, too. But this is the “armor vs bullet” arms race all over again.
100 bucks says that 20 years down the line, Bt cotton won’t be worth warm spit.
(I laugh when I see libertarian articles extolling the use of DDT. NOt that I have anything against using it against mosquitos around the house, but even if it didnt kill raptors, it wouldn’t be used in the US today on crops. It’s long since lost its efficacy against target insects, and ends up killing the beneficial ones too.)
The really cool GM stuff is stuff like “golden rice” and the improved corn roots shown on that old PBS special. Bt veggies are a bit half-baked: a nice idea, but worthless in the long run.
100 bucks says that 20 years down the line, Bt cotton won’t be worth warm spit.
Why? Because insects will develop resistances? Why would they do that any faster with GM crops than they do with chemicals now?
Antibiotics, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, etc — we’re always going to be in an arms race versus parasitic and harmful organisms. However, genetic engineering is a smarter way to go about the arms race, since it allows for both greater reaction time and greater precision on our part.
However, genetic engineering is a smarter way to go about the arms race, since it allows for both greater reaction time and greater precision on our part.
> I don’t know how long it takes an organism to build up a resistance or immunity to something. However, it takes a while to develop, test and bring to market genetically modified organisms. How do we know we’ll always be ahead of the “natural” competition? Some breed often because they have a short life span.
To say nothing of the price of genetically altered seed. Will farmers have to buy from different manufacturers yearly, as though they were rotating their crops? Are there enough manufacturers to keep prices competitive? These are “poor” farmers.
Mark
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The lesser of two evils is still evil.