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deBriefings TEN REASONS why Biotechnology will not ensure Food Enough is available to provide 4.3 pounds for every person every Security, Protect the Environment and Reduce Poverty in day: 2.5 pounds of grain, beans and nuts, about a pound of meat, the Developing World by Miguel A. Altieri, PhD (University of California, milk and eggs and another of fruits and vegetables. . The real causes of hunger are poverty, inequality and lack of Berkeley) and Peter Rosset, PhD (Institute for Food and access. Too many people are too poor to buy the food that is Development Policy, Oakland, California) © 1999 available (but often poorly distributed), or lack the land and iotechnology companies often claim that genetically mod- _ resources to grow it themselves (Lappé, Collins & Rosset, 1998). B ified organisms (GMOs)—specifically, genetically altere seeds—are essential scientific breakthroughs needed to 2. The Real Thrust of Genetic Engineering: Profits feed the world, protect the environment and reduce poverty in Most innovations in agricultural biotechnology have been prof- developing countries. it-driven rather than need-driven. The real thrust of the genetic The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research —_ engineering industry is not to make Third World agriculture more (CGIAR)—and its constellation of international centres aroun productive but, rather, to generate profits (Busch et al., 1990). the world, charged with research to enhance food security in the This is illustrated by reviewing the principal technologies on developing world—echoes this view, which rests on two critical the market today: (a) herbicide-resistant crops such as assumptions. The first is that hunger is due to a gap between _— Monsanto's "Roundup Ready" soybeans (seeds that are tolerant to food production and human population density or growth rate. | Monsanto's herbicide Roundup), and (b) "Bt" crops which are The second is that genetic engineering (GE) is the only or best _ engineered to produce their own insecticide. In the first instance, way to increase agricultural production and thus meet future foo: the goal is to win a greater herbicide market-share for a needs. Our objective is to challenge the notion of biotechnology proprietary product; and in the second, to boost seed sales at the as a magic-bullet solution to all of agriculture's ills, by clarifying cost of damaging the usefulness of a key pest management misconceptions concerning these underlying assumptions. product (the Bacillus thuringiensis—based microbial insecticide) relied upon by many farmers, including organic farmers, as a 1. The Real Causes of Hunger powerful alternative to insecticides. There is no relationship between the prevalence of hunger in a given country and its population. For every densely populated 3. Higher Expenditures, Lower Returns for Growers and hungry nation like Bangladesh or Haiti, there is a sparsely The integration of the seed and chemical industries appears populated and hungry nation like Brazil and Indonesia. The destined to accelerate increases in per-acre/hectare expenditures world today produces more food per inhabitant than ever before. for seeds plus chemicals, delivering significantly lower returns to growers. Companies developing herbicide-tolerant ‘5 ENOM = LATEST crops are trying to shift as much per-acre/hectare cost as possible from the herbicide onto the seed via seed costs and/or technology charges. Increasingly, price reductions for herbicides will be limited to growers purchasing technology packages. 4. GE Seeds Do Not Increase Crop Yields Recent experimental trials have shown that genetically engineered seeds do not increase the yield of crops. A recent study by the USDA Economic Research Service showed that, in 1998, yields were not significantly different in engineered versus non- engineered crops in 12 of 18 crop/region combinations. In the six crop/region combinations where Bt crops or HRCs fared better, they exhibited increased yields tween 5-30%. Glyphosate-tolerant cotton showed no significant yield increase in either region where it was surveyed. This was confirmed in another study examining more than 8,000 field trials, where it was found that Roundup Ready soybean seeds produced fewer bushels of soybeans than similar, conventionally red varieties (USDA, 1999). a.) St ray 5. Food Safety and Labelling Problems Many scientists claim that the ingestion of geneti- cally engineered food is harmless. Recent evidence, owever, shows that there are potential risks of eating such foods, as the new proteins produced in such 16 - NEXUS AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2000