|  Adrian
Glamorgan urges us to learn from Canadian farmers Percy
and Louise Schmeiser and fight to preserve our 'clean
green' status before it is too late.
Out of the blue, or rather a few days after at least
a million votes for the environment, the New South Wales
Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald announced,
in a complete non sequitur, that he would be lifting
the ban on genetically engineered (GE) canola crops,
just as Agriculture Minister Joe Helper in Victoria
would be.
The reasons given were consistent with claims made
by GE advocates. They speak of being more environmentally
friendly, and farmers not missing out on markets, of
better yields. The only thing missing in November's
surprise announcement was Monsanto's own claims for
its GE approach, that engineering the genes of plants
will actually end Third World hunger. If there wasn't
so much at stake, the whole effect would be risible.
The reasons are so often implausible, and demonstrably
contradicted by overseas experience, it would be mad
to proceed. And yet next month, proceed it seems we
will.
As people ought to know, once GE canola is released
into the environment, there is no going back. The Queensland
and South Australian borders won't be respected: plants
know no constitutionality. Flowers pollinate, and cross-pollinate.
In the United States, GE canola grows like a weed by
the side of the road, and in the wild. Companies market
their GE seed aggressively. Over 70 per cent of Canadian
canola is now genetically modified. Organic, non GE
farmers won't be able to vouch for their "clean
green" product. So despite ministerial promises
of segregation, it's only a matter time before seeds
and plant stock mix.
In 2004, Saskatchewan farmers Percy and Louise Schmeiser
were prosecuted by Monsanto for "violating"
the company's patent because GE canola seeds blew onto
their property, and started to infest the Schmeiser's
canola crops. Monsanto wanted royalties for the gene
that it "owns", and after fighting a court
ban, got what it wanted. For giving the world its wake
up call about Monsanto's methods, the Schmeisers received
the 2007 Right Livelihood Award. The jury acknowledged
the Schmeisers, "for their courage in defending
biodiversity and farmers' rights, and challenging the
environmental and moral perversity of current interpretations
of patent laws."
I heard Percy Schmeiser speak to farmers in the wheatbelt
town of York, in Western Australia, a few years back.
The York meeting hall was packed with farmers, all plainly
anxious to hear and weigh it all up. On the one hand,
they are under a lot of pressure to make ends meet.
The companies are promising that they'll need less pesticide,
which many farmers will acknowledge gets overused on
farms. On the other hand, here was a cocky like themselves,
with that endearing Canadian accent, who'd been done
over by the system in a way not unfamiliar to the local
farmers. This Canadian was saying once the "clean
green" label is gone, it's gone. There would be
no going back. That the promises about pesticide reduction
were overstated. That prices would not necessarily improve,
if consumers didn't want to buy into the GE world. That
the GE companies play a hard game. Naturally, there
was a lot of uncomfortable shifting in the seats, and
much talk from the heart.
Since then, the Australian Network of Concerned Farmers
note that Canadian yields have not improved with GE
seed: in fact, "with little benefit, higher costs
and lower commodity prices and an inability to segregate,
there is a risk, not a benefit associated with GM canola."
NCF Spokesperson Julie Newman has also noted, "If
introduced, Australia will be the first country to introduce
large scale commercial release of a patented GM food
crop without subsidising farmers to compensate for higher
costs and associated market loss. This is about industries
making money from farmers, not for farmers."
Indeed, some people say Canadian farmers have lost
out big time as European consumers check their packs
for country of origin. In October 2007, a delegation
of Japanese food buyers visited Australia and urged
us not to shift our ban. Ryoko Shimizu said that the
delegation represented almost three million Japanese
consumers who would not want to buy genetically modified
canola. "Now we import from Australia because of
the GMO free status. So I believe it would damage the
export market for Australian farmers," she said.
Within Australia, many big companies are opposed to
labelling products as being "GM" (genetically
modified) or "GE" (genetically engineered.)
They don't want consumers to make irrational choices,
so prefer they had no choice at all. I know companies
like Bayer Cropscience and Monsanto have spent a lot
of money on all this, but to my mind, the whole idea
that we can "own" genes or genetically manipulate
them to make hybrid species brings out the conservative
in me. These are not things to be rushed. It's not the
lack of GE grains in the world that's causing world
hunger (there's enough food right now to feed everyone),
it's the way we distribute food that's the problem.
Farmers within Australia are already struggling and
they don't need pressures like this to complicate and
undermine their livelihoods.
If you are moved to act, the best response would be
to do something about it today, now, wherever you live
in Australia, to try and keep the moratorium against
the use of GE crops going. Better a quick letter sent
now than a great letter sent too late. Write to the
New South Wales and Victorian governments, write to
your own state or territory government, and urge the
"precautionary principle", that waiting to
see about the success or otherwise of GE crops in Argentina,
Brazil, Canada and the US is the smartest and safest
thing to do, that we want to maintain our competitive
advantage in "clean green" produce, and that
going down the GE route is irreversible. Write from
the heart; Google all the facts you need: maybe start
with "Schmeiser."
At the same time, also consider writing to the new
Federal Government, asking it to override State agricultural
ministers and impose a ban on all GE crops throughout
Australia.
If the bans are lifted, and GE canola farming commences,
one option will be to give up consuming canola altogether.
Check the sides of boxes on supermarket shelves to see
if "canola" is an ingredient. You will be
surprised how extensively canola appears in many processed
foods. If so, if the ban is indeed lifted, exercise
your choice to know, to eat simply, to support a nature-based
agriculture, and purchase another product that uses
a different ingredient altogether. And of course, always
consider buying organic or biodynamic produce to support
cleaner farming.
The time to act is now. Later, we can work out the
logic that got us here.
|
