|
Will Science-Phobia Kill the Green Revolution?
Summary posted by Meridian on 7/27/2010
Source: Huffington Post
Author: Jon Entine
"Unfortunately, the world's poor are often caught in the middle of a ferocious but under-the-radar war over the future of world agriculture and the fate of the malnourished," says this opinion piece. The opinion piece cites a recent case in Haiti, where Haitian peasant groups, which are headquartered, the opinion piece says, in New York City, marched through Port-au-Prince, Haiti in protest of Monsanto's donation of 135 tons of hybrid varieties of corn and vegetable seed. The opinion says the 135-ton shipment was the first installment of 60,000 sacks of non-genetically-modified (non-GM), high-yielding, hybrid seed worth more than US$4 million, being donated after months of careful negotiations with government and international agricultural experts. The Haitian peasant groups are said to have threatened to burn the seed although they did not in fact do so, and the seed has been brought into Haiti. According to the opinion piece, the Haitian groups and the international NGOs with which they work closely, including Greenpeace and the Organic Consumers Association, promote a "'sustainable'" solution based on organic techniques and see the Monsanto donation as "a Trojan horse" aimed at moving farmers away from organic agriculture and towards "'industrial'" farming techniques. But, the opinion piece argues, the agricultural status quo in Haiti has been "disastrous." Science and technology, it says, are needed. There is no "zero sum trade-off" between technology, productivity and sustainability, and "The judicious use of agricultural chemicals like atrazine and glyphosate, sophisticated hybrid seeds, and biotech products are essential if we are to use all the tools available to raise yields and combat hunger," argues the opinion piece. The author of the opinion piece, Jon Entine, is the author of the forthcoming book "Crop Chemophobia: Will Precaution Kill the Green Revolution." The opinion piece can be viewed online at the link below.
The original article may still be available at www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-entine/will-science-phobia-kill_b_656066.html
As tagged by Meridian Institute:
Topics:
Risks and benefits: environmental, Scientific research, Smallholder farmers, Globalization and Trade, Food security, Product development
Regions:
South America, North America
Stakeholders:
Non-governmental Organizations (NGO), Industry, Government, Farmer
Related Forums:
print format
|
 |
-- Inter Press Service (9/3/2010) This article reports on the efforts of Sheila Okoth, a Kenyan research scientist, to develop affordable solutions to aflatoxin poisoning, which is a major health hazard in parts of the developing world. [More]
-- World Food Prize Foundation (9/3/2010) Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been presented with the World Food Prize Foundation's Norman E. Borlaug Medallion, which recognizes world leaders whose actions have benefited mankind. [More]
-- ILSI (9/3/2010) The International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) Southeast Asia is organizing a closed workshop on the topic of genetically modified (GM) stacked traits, to be attended by relevant stakeholders in the region. [More]
-- China Daily (9/2/2010) China should "step up" its agricultural innovation, including the development of its own genetically modified (GM) crop varieties, agricultural experts and officials have told the China Daily newspaper. [More]
More News...
|
