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href="http://www.actionaid.org/resources/pdfs/gatg.pdf">http://www.actionaid.org/resources/pdfs/gatg.pdf</A></DIV>
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<DIV>GE CROPS WON'T END HUNGER<BR>May 30, 2003<BR>P A N U P S<BR>Pesticide
Action Network Updates Service<BR><A
href="http://www.pannas.org">www.pannas.org</A><BR>Genetically engineered crops
pose a considerable threat to farmers and<BR>food security in developing
countries, according to ActionAid, a highly<BR>respected development
organization in Great Britain. The group recently issued a<BR>report, GM
Crops--Going Against the Grain, that compares the promises of<BR>biotech
companies with the real performance of genetically engineered<BR>(GE) crops in
Asia, Africa and Latin America. It concludes that the new<BR>technology will
lead to more hungry people, not less.<BR>ActionAid released the report as part
of a national debate about GE food<BR>soon to begin in the UK. The debate has
been made even more important by<BR>the mid-May announcement that the U.S. will
file a World Trade Organization<BR>(WTO) case against the European Union for its
moratorium on biotech<BR>crops.<BR>President Bush has gone so far as to assert
that Europe's refusal to<BR>allow food from GE crops into their markets has
discouraged Third World<BR>countries from using this technology and thus
undermined efforts to end hunger in<BR>Africa.<BR>Matthew Lockwood of ActionAid
warned, "The UK public should not be duped<BR>into accepting GE in the name of
developing countries. GE does not<BR>provide a magic bullet solution to world
hunger. What poor people really need is<BR>access to land, water, better roads
to get their crops to market,<BR>education and credit schemes." ActionAid is one
of the UK's largest development<BR>organizations, working with poor and
marginalized people in 30 countries<BR>around the world to eradicate
poverty.<BR>The report states that nearly 800 million people go hungry every
day<BR>because they cannot grow or buy enough food. One in seven children born
in the<BR>countries where hunger is most common die before they reach the age
of<BR>five.<BR>The biotechnology industry says that GE crops will solve the
problem of<BR>world hunger by increasing food production. Yet the UN Food
and<BR>Agriculture Organization (FAO) finds there is more than enough food in
the world to<BR>meet current global needs, both now and several decades into the
future. The<BR>causes of food insecurity are political and economic; many people
are<BR>too poor to buy food, lack the land or other resources to grow
food<BR>themselves, or are unable to obtain food through existing distribution
systems.<BR>Four GE crops, maize (corn), cotton, canola (oilseed rape) and soya
><BR>(soybeans), account for 99% of all commercial GE crops in 2002. With
the<BR>exception of cotton, these crops are used primarily for animal feed.
Soy<BR>and the vegetable oils derived from canola are used in processed
foods.<BR>ActionAid reports the pesticide industry has been the driving
force<BR>behind GE agriculture, as four multinational corporations--Monsanto,
Bayer<BR>CropScience, DuPont and Syngenta--have purchased seed and
biotechnology<BR>companies around the world and now control most of the GE seed
market.<BR>The global market for GE seeds is on the rise, with 2002 estimates
at<BR>US$4.25 billion, up from US$3.8 billion in 2001. GE seeds represented 13%
of the<BR>global commercial seed market in 2001.<BR>Despite the biotech
industry's claims that genetic engineering is an<BR>essential tool to combat
hunger, GE research in Africa, for instance,<BR>focuses on export crops such as
cut flowers, fruit, vegetables, cotton<BR>and tobacco. In Kenya, only one out of
136 patent applications for plants<BR>was for a food crop; more than half were
for roses.<BR>Genetically engineered seeds threaten the practice of saving
and<BR>replanting seeds, which is common in many countries around the world. Up
to 1.4<BR>billion people, including 90% of farmers in Africa, depend on saved
seed. Yet GE<BR>seeds must be bought each season, and biotech companies charge
farmers<BR>royalty fees and force them to sign contracts that they will not save
or<BR>replant seeds, use only the corporation's chemicals on the crop,
and<BR>provide access to their property to verify compliance. These companies
also<BR>continue to develop "Terminator technologies" which makes plants produce
sterile<BR>seeds.<BR>The report also contradicts biotech companies' claims that
GE crops will<BR>lower use of dangerous pesticides, reporting that chemical use
per<BR>hectare in Argentina has more than doubled on GE soy fields compared
to<BR>conventional varieties. Also, GE technology will enable corporations or
farmers in<BR>wealthy countries to grow crops currently grown only in
tropical<BR>climates.<BR>Such "crop substitutions" would deprive
export-producing countries of<BR>valuable income and employment. For example,
corporations are currently<BR>developing canola genetically engineered to
produce oils to replace<BR>coconut and palm oils grown in the developing world,
devastating coconut oil<BR>production in India and oil palm producers in
Malaysia and Ghana.<BR>Sources: GM Crops--Going Against the Grain, ActionAid,
2003, available<BR>for free download at: <A
href="http://www.actionaid.org/resources/pdfs/gatg.pdf">http://www.actionaid.org/resources/pdfs/gatg.pdf</A>;<BR>Press
Release, May 28, 2003, Press Release, Office of the U.S.
Trade<BR>Representative, May 13, 2003.<BR>Contact: ActionAid (44-20) 7561 7627,
Hamlyn House, Macdonald Road,<BR>Archway, London N19 5PG, UK; phone (44-20) 7561
7561; fax (44-20) 7272 0899;<BR><A
href="mailto:email@actionaid.org.uk">email@actionaid.org.uk</A>; Web site <A
href="http://www.actionaid.org">http://www.actionaid.org</A>.</DIV>
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<DIV>Die Antwort der Industrie liess natürlich nicht lange auf sich warten
(schliesslich hat man ja soger den US-Präsi in der Tasche),</DIV>
<DIV>friedliche Grüsse - martin</DIV>
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<DIV>ActionAid says GM crops could push poor farmers into debt, but
CropGen<BR>disagrees...http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?recid=1688</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>