1.Let's not barter away our food security for GM crops
2.Policymakers yet to reach consensus Sowing of Bt cotton was unauthorised

GM WATCH COMMENT: As Pakistan is pressurised down the GM route, it's encouraging to see such a thoughtful article (item 1) in the Pakistani press.

As the article notes, "The ISAAA's growing influence in Pakistan is apparent." And, unfortunately, most of Pakistan's media is failing to ask questions about the hype they're being fed by this industry group.

Over and over again we read about the danger of Pakistan being left behind as other Asian countries enjoy bountiful harvests and race ahead with GM. But almost every element of this picture is either false, incomplete or misleading.

Here's a classic example of this from the second article:

"The [ISAAA] report said that Bt cotton has contributed significantly to the yield increase in cotton in India... In turn... Bt cotton has been a major contributor to increased exports from India... Thailand [is] worried about falling behind its global competition, much of Asia is rushing forward with the development and cultivation of genetically modified crops. The three most populous countries in Asia - China, India and Indonesia - are already planting millions of acres of genetically modified cotton."

FALSE

Far from Indonesia "planting millions of acres of genetically modified cotton", Monsanto's Bt seeds had to be withdrawn from the country after it proved a disaster. And a sustained campaign of corruption of officials by Monsanto was subsequently shown to have occurred.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=58&page=1

And as the first article notes, India's apparently improved cotton harvests owe more to the weather than Bt cotton. In fact, ISAAA's own data shows the attribution of any improvements to Bt cotton is completely bogus.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7433

INCOMPLETE

A lot of Bt cotton has been planted in India and China but that hardly reflects the technology's success. In India's case there's good reason to conclude that it reflects a massive campaign of hype impacting, as a just published study shows, on farmers who've become highly vulnerable to agricultural fads. (Effect of genetically modified crops on developing countries) http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7490

(THE MARKETING OF BT COTTON IN INDIA)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5741

And a study of Bt cotton cultivation in 2004 in China showed non-Bt cotton farmers were making more money than Bt cultivators, who were suffering from major problems with secondary pest infestations.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=86&page=1

MISLEADING

As for Thailand missing the GM train, that may have been a concewrn of the former Thai Prime Minister but that concern hasn't been reflected in the rest of Thailand, quite the reverse, a fact which forced the PM to back-track on lifting Thailand's GM ban. And the Thai rice industry has recently been celebrating the fact that it has kept clear of GM rice as it is benefiting ecenomically from the crisis inflicted on the US rice industry by GM contamination following field trials.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=7337

---

1.Let's not barter away our food security for GM crops
We need to have a strategy that benefits our farmers
By Kamal Siddiqi (Editor Reporting) The News - International (Pakistan), January
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=40655

KARACHI: Important decisions are being made about Genetically Modified (GM) technologies, which aren’t covered in our media or even in our parliament. Journalists and parliamentarians either lack access to information about GM crop trials or do not understand the issues at stake.

Meanwhile, biotech corporations are pressing ahead, leaving decisions that will affect millions of Pakistanis unexamined. After the privatisation of our important public sector entities, the new frontier seems to be our farms and food security. From what was once called the granary of the sub-continent, Pakistan can be reduced to what some are calling a client food state which will have to comply with the whims of Western biotech companies or face famine.

Earlier this week, Kausar Abdullah, member Planning Commission on Agriculture told a news conference that efforts were underway for approval of all BT (Bio-technology) varieties "as soon as possible" to adopt them in an organized manner for cultivation all over the country. This is bad news as it comes without any debate on the issue.

In Pakistan's business-friendly climate, biotech and GM issues are not a priority and are often mentioned in a polarized manner. In the absence of in-depth knowledge and specialization, it's either a business story - technologies are reported as good for food production and export markets - or it’s a story about NGO protests.

This is ironic because some experts feel that the media in developing countries will have to increasingly deal with GM issues in the future.

"...Facing a political climate that is generally hostile to agri-biotech, companies have grown pessimistic about their commercial future in Europe and have begun moving their plant biotechnology divisions elsewhere," said an editorial in the Scientific American magazine in August last year.

According to some experts, multinational companies engaging in crop-improvement programs have taken a stronghold in developing countries through locally influential personages and companies.

Go to a Print friendly Page