Science hits GM crops (while China stops sowing) | Social Watch
http://www.socialwatch.org/node/13810
Far from putting an end to the hunger in the world and from improving farmer’s quality of life, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are raising food insecurity and health hazards and failing to increase the yields of crops, according to new scientific studies.
A month later, a report launched by 20 South-east Asian, African and Latin American civil society organizations proved that GMOs have caused an increase in the use of chemicals that contaminate the ground, and the rapid spread of infertile transgenic “superweeds” to lands where they were not seed.
Navdanya’s research in India has shown that contrary to [US firm] Monsanto’s claim of Bt cotton yield of 1500 kg per acre, the reality is that the yield is an average of 400-500 kg per acre,” wrote renowned scholar and activist Vandana Shiva, who led the report among with her colleagues Debbie Barker and Caroline Lockhart.
Another study, published on Sept. 28 by the Washington-based Food and Water Watch and titled “Genetically Engineered Food: An Overview”, conclude that GMO’s proliferation into vast lands have caused a slew of environmental and health crises, and actually increased poverty by forcing millions of farmers to “buy” patented seeds at exorbitant prices, reported IPS news agency.
A third report, published this month by the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB), warned against the authorisation to conduct the first ever field trials in South Africa involving GM bananas not only because of the biosafety risks “to human and animal health, the environment and to society”, but also because of “the lack of public interest or commercial justification”.
ACB thinks that transgenic disease resistant bananas cannot overcome the problems of land tenure to competition from more ecologically suitable production areas, such as those in Mozambique, a shift in the industry that will mean the loss of 24 000 on farm jobs in South Africa.