Posted on 09/17/2002 5:20:22 AM PDT by kattracks
CNSNews.com) - Time Magazine's decision to honor an Indian organic farming activist for her opposition to genetically modified foods is drawing fire from critics around the world who accuse Vandana Shiva of advocating a return to the "days when people died like flies."
The "Green Century" special Earth Summit edition of Time Magazine named Shiva one of the environmental "heroes," and lauded her for representing "tradition's voice," by setting "an eco-friendly standard that agribusiness must show it can outperform."
Shiva has campaigned against GM foods, claiming high-tech agriculture will ultimately destroy the land. She's also championed chemical-free organic farming methods as the wave of the future.
But Barun Mitra, an Indian farm rights advocate and a member of the Liberty Institute of New Delhi, told CNSNews.com that Time Magazine's promotion of Shiva's agenda will lead to more worldwide famine.
"Time Magazine is completely wrong as it has been in the past too, like when it placed [Vladimir] Lenin and [Chairman] Mao on its cover," Mitra said.
Mitra claimed Shiva "apparently wants us to go back to those days when people died like flies because traditional agriculture could never feed the Indian population."
Mitra is particularly upset that Shiva and other green activists have tried to stop India's recent use of GM agriculture. "Technologies (like GM) have boosted Indian agricultural productivity, enabling India to break free of the linkage between drought and famine," Mitra said.
According to Mitra, Indian agriculture would benefit greatly from GM crops because they are more resistant to the pests and disease that have been blamed for lower yields in crops not genetically modified.
GM crops use genetically altered seeds that are designed to increase yields by withstanding drought and pests, and some GM foods have been consumed in the U.S. for the past seven years.
But activists like Shiva oppose GM foods because they fear potential negative health effects. Another concern is that broader use of GM crops would disrupt farmers' traditional ways of life.
Mitra believes Shiva's push for organic farming proves they "are not interested in crop yields, they are not interested in poverty, in hunger, they are interested in perpetuating their interests."
'Genocidal Think Tanks'
Shiva fired back at critics, calling them "genocidal" for their support of farming techniques that would end traditional ways of life for Indian farmers.
In an exclusive interview with CNSNews.com, Shiva said Mitra and other GM supporters were part of "genocidal think tanks" whose "minds have been bought by money."
"They say what they say because they are paid," Shiva claimed.
Shiva accused GM advocates of being pawns of big agribusinesses, which she said have "mobilized groups of people who pretend to be farmers, groups of third-rate mediocre scientists who pretend to be scientists, groups of corrupt politicians who pretend to be talking about their nations."
Groups that support GM foods are "feeling very, very scared," according to Shiva, "because they have to tell lies to open their markets. They know the data is out, that organic produces more, they know awareness is out, no one wants to eat GM, people prefer organic."
Mitra criticized Shiva's "name calling" and said it "exposes the hollowness of the accuser."
"Shiva and others like her, want to deny the farmers the choice (of GM crops) by seeking government regulation restricting everything else other than their alleged panacea," Mitra said.
Mitra noted that, "in poor countries like India, most farmers are organic or undertake low intensity farming not out of choice, but out of necessity."
Mitra sees the future of agriculture in poor nations tied to high tech, high yield methods, similar to those used by western nations.
"Throughout history, there is no instance of any country that has economically developed by keeping the bulk of its population dependent on land or agriculture," Mitra said.
Let Them Eat ... Nothing
Alex Avery, director of research and education at the Hudson Institute's Center for Global Food Issues and a GM food proponent, said there is no truth to Shiva's accusation, that only "mediocre" scientists support GM foods.
"[Shiva] is hoping you won't notice that biotechnology (GM) now has the support of the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, six national science academies and the Third World Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Federal Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the American Medical Association, the American Dietetic Association, the Society of Toxicologists and 19 Nobel Prize winning scientists, among others," Avery said.
Avery called the green movement's fears about GM food safety baseless. "It is irresponsible to let people starve to death in order to avoid hypothetical health risks that have never been demonstrated - not even a skin rash - from foods that have undergone more safety testing than any foods in history," he explained.
Avery also took Shiva to task for saying the Zambian government made "a very responsible action" in rejecting GM foods from the U.S. in the face of a burgeoning famine.
Zambia recently rejected U.S. aid because it contained GM foods despite the fact that the African nation is facing a famine. Zambia's refusal came amid pressure from European Union members and international environmental groups.
Avery asked rhetorically, "Is it moral to allow millions to starve when perfectly safe food lies in warehouses in Zambia for political reasons?"
Michael Dorsey, a member of the board of directors of the Sierra Club, told CNSNews.com that Zambia's recent decision not to accept the GM food was "an expression of the self determination of the Zambian people."
But, Dorsey conceded political pressure might have led Zambia to reject the GM food.
"[Zambia] made that choice in the face of potential trade retribution from the European Union because of the contamination of the export crops of these GM organisms."
Patrick Moore, a founding member of Greenpeace, who left the group in the 1980s because he viewed it as too radical, called environmental activists opposition to GM foods "crazy."
"It's based on an ideology that is so far from being based on science and logic. It's crazy how it's actually become so deeply embedded within the media," Moore said. "The environmental movement has got people so freaked out that they are allowing people to starve to death rather than feed them GM foods."
Amid the politics and economics of genetically modified food, Mitra also sees a moral aspect to the debate, particularly when it comes to using GM food in the face of widespread hunger, famine and death.
According to Mitra, "The reason why India's population stayed stable at around 150-200 million people for most of the past centuries was because the residents were decimated by famine and epidemics."
"Shiva would like all of us to grovel in poverty, so that she could, in her jet setting ways, occasionally descend on us to preach about the virtues of poverty," Mitra said.
E-mail a news tip to Marc Morano.
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Oh ! Now where is my Thugee scarf ? It was here a moment ago. Some beggar must have stolen it for the coin I keep knotted in the corner ! Woe ! Very bad !!
A fascinating comment. India suffers from overpopulation according to everything I've ever read. They want more mouths to feed? More people sleeping on sidewalks? If GM foods mean better nourishment for people in India, I'm all for it, but the prospect of an ever-increasing population there is terrible to contemplate. What will they do to earn their food?
Send well-fed politicans to beat their chests before the UN and US, demanding more food aid -- and money in general.
That is, if history is any guide.
Imal
The Second Amendment...
America's Original Homeland Security !!
What will they do to earn their food?
They can begin by replacing a corrupt government with an honest government. Then let free-market economics play out. Basically what the citizens of every country need to do.
Such an approach appropriately releases those modifications that are low risk while holding back those that will require more research into either proof that the risk is low or development of low-cost means to control a possible accident.
For more on the system architecture for under which such an insurance and verification program is structured, please consult this PCT patent disclosure (a pdf document).
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