Roundup Ready religion: The Vatican and GMOs

[cbayer]

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/06/2013622134636419979.html

Pressure has been mounting on to Vatican to come out in support of GMOs.

Last Modified: 22 Jun 2013 15:09

Belen Fernandez
Belen Fernandez is the author of The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work, published by Verso. She is a contributing editor at Jacobin Magazine.


In a leaked 2009 cable, the US allegedly attempted to pressure the Vatican into supporting GMOs [AP]


A 2009 WikiLeaks cable from the US embassy in the Holy See reports that “Vatican officials remain largely supportive of genetically modified crops as a vehicle for protecting the environment while feeding the hungry, but - at least for now - are unwilling to challenge bishops who disagree”.

That the primary purpose of GMOs is not in fact to safeguard the environment is suggested by, inter alia, a 2012 study by Washington State University research professor Dr Charles Benbrook, who found that the proliferation of such crops has caused an increase in the use of hazardous pesticides in the US.

As for the claim that GMOs are a proper antidote to the problem of global hunger, it's worth reviewing renowned environmental activist Vandana Shiva's observation that “[o]ne billion people are without food because industrial monocultures robbed them of their livelihoods in agriculture and their food entitlements”.

The following sound bite from Shiva's appearance last year on the BBC's HARDtalk meanwhile obliterates the notion of any positive correlation between the GMO industry and human wellbeing:

"We see the consequences of [seed patenting] in India, where, since the big companies came in and took over the seed supply - especially in cotton - we have had 270,000 farmer suicides, most of them driven by debt and the debt caused by high-cost nonrenewable seeds."

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