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Date published: 6/29/2003
OAKLAND, Calif.--The biotechnology industry must have done something good in a previous life. Or have some powerful friends. Little else can account for the activities recently undertaken on its behalf by the U.S. government. For instance, at the graduation ceremony at the U.S. Coast Guard academy in May, George Bush lambasted Europeans for their moratorium on genetically engineered organisms, a key product from the biotechnology industry. "European governments should join--not hinder--the great cause of ending hunger in Africa," he argued, saying that European consumer fears around GMOs were preventing the dissemination of technology that might feed the hungry. To supplement its moral suasion, the administration has adopted more direct approaches. Last month, the United States initiated proceedings at the World Trade Organization, arguing that the European moratorium is illegal. Further afield, the U.S. Agency for International Development has been distributing genetically modified corn as food aid to famine-afflicted areas. Not everyone in the Third World was happy about this. When India said that the science to approve a GM crop import had not yet been completed there, and biosafety protocols still hadn't been developed, a USAID official responded rather curtly: "Beggars can't be choosers." Last year, Zambia caused an international diplomatic incident by rejecting food aid because the U.S. government could not guarantee it free of GMOs, in line with Zambian law. The United States responded to Zambia by applying immense amounts of diplomatic pressure. In an effort to circumvent the government and talk directly to Zambia's large Catholic population, Colin Powell even phoned Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican foreign minister, to ask him to declare GMOs safe. The Vatican declined so to do. The latest push began last week, when the USDA, USAID, and the State Department hosted an Agricultural Science and Technology Ministerial and Expo in Sacramento, Calif., to which ministers from 180 countries were invited. The humanitarian pitchThe main argument offered by the U.S. government to justify this enthusiastic taxpayer-funded promotional activity is that GMOs will, in fact, feed the Third World. By remarkable coincidence, this solution to starvation is concordant with the goals of GMO industry. Since the solution is so clear, it would seem that public debate is unnecessary, regardless of whether the issue is as fundamental as our food, who gets to eat, and the ability of the hungriest people in the world to obtain enough to survive.
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