jmek:
Food Fights -Some of the world’s most bitter conflicts have nothing to do with access to resources, ethnic chauvinism, or the balance of power…
The Battleground: India
The Fight: In October, the Indian government gave its first approval to a genetically modified food, “Bt brinjal” — an eggplant bioengineered by agro-giant Monsanto to resist certain insects. But a widely circulated independent study showed that Bt brinjal has fewer calories than traditional eggplant and gave lab rats diarrhea. Indian environmentalists and farmers took to the streets in protest, dressing in eggplant costumes and burning eggplants in effigy. In February, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh temporarily halted the rollout of the modified veggie pending a government investigation.
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DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images
Source: foreignpolicy.com
It’s important to keep GMO issues in the news - after initial outcry in the 1990s and 2000s, large-scale planting of corn, soy, tomatoes, and many other agricultural crops has been implemented around the world. The economy of Argentina is largely based on the production of GM soy crops.
This article makes me think of another important point - scientists forget to factor culture into their money-making, super food schemes - even if this eggplant was entirely comparable, many countries or peoples reject these non-traditional food sources for cultural reasons, causing the whole effort to fail.
It’s refreshing to see that Monsanto hasn’t been able to roll over everyone.
