Posted on 01/04/2006 5:45:31 AM PST by Brilliant
This month will be important for the future of agricultural biotechnology in Europe. A World Trade Organization panel is expected to deliver in the next few days its long-awaited verdict on a trade dispute brought by a coalition of countries, including the U.S., Canada and Argentina, against the EU over its continued resistance to the authorization of genetically modified seeds.
And while that decision -- whichever way it goes -- will have far-reaching implications for the future of agricultural biotechnology on the Continent, when seen in the context of the global biotech landscape, Europe's continued ambivalence toward this technology seems strangely anomalous to what has clearly become a global trend.
Just look at the statistics.
The year 2005 saw the planting of the one billionth acre of genetically modified crops in the world, and marked the 10th anniversary of the first commercial planting.
In the decade that GM crops have been grown commercially, they have experienced an unprecedented rate of growth across the world. Last year alone, more than 81 million hectares of the world's arable land were sown with genetically modified seed by over eight million farmers in 17 countries -- a 20% increase on the previous year.
It is little wonder then that while the bureaucrats in Brussels argue over the appropriateness of the technology, farmers in Europe are increasingly voting on the issue with their hoes.
In Spain -- the pariah state of the EU when it comes to the cultivation of biotech crops -- farmers planted 58,000 hectares of insect-resistant maize in 2004, an increase of 80% on the previous year's level...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I have never understood why genetically modified grains which supposedly deter insects and molds are dangerous to humans. Are they? I suppose I could do my own research..but does anyone know why they are 'bad'?
It's more an environmental thing, I think. The enviro whackos are afraid that we'll create a super plant that will breed with native plants, and TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!
That's what they claim, but the real reason is economic. Biotech means doing a better job with fewer farmers. The European attitude is that crops exist to employ farmers, clothing exists to employ weavers, wine exists to employ vintners, etc. Anything that threatens jobs is to be shunned.
Of course, now they're realizing that biotech threatens their sinecures whether they adopt it or not.
That may be part of it, and a bigger part of it for the EU is that they need some excuse to put trade restrictions on US agricultural imports. This is very convenient. They can pretend that it has nothing to do with trade, just public health and safety.
From Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand:
"The State Science Institute," he said quietly, when they were alone in her office, "has issued a statement warning people against the use of Rearden Metal." He added, "It was on the radio. It's in the afternoon papers."
"What did they say?"
"Dagny, they didn't say it! . . . They haven't really said it, yet it's there—and it isn't. That's what's monstrous about it."
His effort was focused on keeping his voice quiet; he could not control his words. The words were forced out of him by the unbelieving, bewildered indignation of a child screaming in denial at his first encounter with evil.
"What did they say, Eddie?"
"They . . . You'd have to read it." He pointed to the newspaper he had left on her desk. "They haven't said that Rearden Metal is bad. They haven't said that it's unsafe. What they've done is . . ." His hands spread and dropped in a gesture of futility.
She saw at a glance what they had done. She saw the sentences: "It may be possible that after a period of heavy usage, a sudden fissure may appear, though the length of this period cannot be predicted. . . . The possibility of a molecular reaction, at present unknown, cannot be entirely discounted. . . . Although the tensile strength of the metal is obviously demonstrable, certain questions in regard to its behavior under unusual stress are not to be ruled out. . . . Although there is no evidence to support the contention that the use of the metal should be prohibited, a further study of its properties would be of value."
"We can't fight it. It can't be answered," Eddie was saying slowly.
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