Why We're Given No Choice

[Guest guest]

here's why:

 

Vatican says GM food is a blessing

Richard Owen, The Times

August 05, 2003

 

THE Vatican has stunned opponents of genetically modified foods by

declaring they hold the answer to world starvation and malnutrition.

Until Sunday's statement the Vatican had been neutral in the European

Union-US confrontation over GM food.

 

Archbishop Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and

Peace, said the Vatican was preparing an official report on biotechnology,

to be published next month, which would come down in favour of genetic

modification. The document will coincide with a debate on GM by EU farm

ministers.

 

Archbishop Martino said the Pope was greatly interested in new

technologies for food development as part of a policy of sustainable

agriculture. He noted that 24,000 people died every day from starvation.

 

Archbishop Martino, who until last year was the Vatican representative at

the UN, said he had lived for 16 years in the US " and I ate everything

that was offered to me, including genetically modified products. They had

no effect on my health. This controversy is more political than scientific.

"

 

The Vatican study will argue that the future of humanity is at stake and

that there is no room for the ideological arguments advanced by

environmentalists.

 

One Vatican official said: " The Book of Genesis clearly establishes the

domination of man over nature. God has entrusted mankind to preserve

nature but also to use it. "

 

Archbishop Martino said the Pope had been influenced by the growing weight

of advice from the Vatican's scientific advisers. " The Pope ardently

desires to do something for the billions of people who go to bed hungry

every night, " he said.

 

Archbishop Martino said freedom from hunger was one of the fundamental

rights of man. The Vatican's stand was consistent with its belief in " the

right to life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death "

..

 

Vatican officials said many in the West had made up their minds about

genetic modification while ignoring the benefits to the world's hungry.

Velasio De Paolis, a professor of canon law at the Pontifical Urban

University, said it was " easy to say no to GM food if your stomach is full "

..

 

Scientific progress was part of the divine plan, he said. " The

introduction of new and more efficient technologies such as second and

third-generation GM foods, in harmony with sustainable development, is not

a threat but a benefit. "

 

Carlo Bernardini, editor of Italy's leading scientific magazine, Sapere,

said he hoped Italy, which holds the rotating EU presidency, would take

its lead from the Pope.

 

But Alfonso Scanio Pecoraro, head of the Italian Greens and a former

agriculture minister, said he was horrified by the Vatican's intervention.

" The church is using its authority to support a scam by the US

multinationals, " he said.

 

He suspected the administration of US President George W. Bush had put

pressure on the Holy See.

 

 

On Wednesday, August 6, 2003, at 09:50 AM, (AT) (DOT)

com wrote:

 

> Message: 1

> Tue, 05 Aug 2003 11:19:32 -0000

> " cheryll " <naturalist_44240

> Chinese say NO to GMO foods

>

> Too bad the people in the US didn't get a choice in the matter.

>

> http://ens-news.com/ens/jul2003/2003-07-22-03.asp

>

> Food Firms Pledge to Keep Chinese Products GE Free

>

> GUANGZHOU, China, July 22, 2003 (ENS) - For the first time food

> producers in China have publicly committed themselves not to sell

> genetically modified food. Thirty-two food companies producing 53

> brands

> have agreed to sell only food products that are free of transgenic

> ingredients, the result of a campaign by Greenpeace China...

>

>

" My experience has been that if any of them are conscious of terrestrial

races at all, they are concerned only with UFOs, and the races we're

encountering, without realizing it, in the sky. That's what I would call

intolerance, even prejudice. "

Philip K. Dick, Confessions of a Crap Artist.

[Guest guest]

all the supporters of GMO's claim that people who refuse these foods

are being selfish because of the starving people.. but does the

technology that would help feed starving people even exist as of

yet? from what i understand, the only GM foods out there help the

corporations because they make the food last longer. i never actually

heard if the foods like that rice supposedly with lots of vitamin A

was ever developed.

 

and nevermind the fact that everyone who eats meat after hearing

about the whole " 16 people could be fed with the grain it takes to

make one steak " statistic are being selfish.

[Guest guest]

The problem is not that we need MORE food to feed the hungry people,

the problem is getting it to them. The US produces so much more

food than we know what to do with and the majority of it goes to

feed animals for meat production. The part of it that should go to

the hungry people of the world gets tied up in corporate and

political red tape. It has nothing to do with lack of supply. That

is just a bunch of corporate propaganda to get the world to buy into

the whole GMO thing.

Yes, they have produced that " golden rice " stuff. I've even seen

advertisements on TV about it.

More information: The Food Revolution by John Robbins.

 

http://organicconsumers.org/

http://www.thecampaign.org/index.php

 

 

-- In , " dave " <dave4sale>

wrote:

> all the supporters of GMO's claim that people who refuse these

foods

> are being selfish because of the starving people.. but does the

> technology that would help feed starving people even exist as of

> yet? from what i understand, the only GM foods out there help the

> corporations because they make the food last longer. i never

actually

> heard if the foods like that rice supposedly with lots of vitamin

A

> was ever developed.

>

> and nevermind the fact that everyone who eats meat after hearing

> about the whole " 16 people could be fed with the grain it takes to

> make one steak " statistic are being selfish.

[Guest guest]

>The problem is not that we need MORE food to feed the hungry people,

>the problem is getting it to them. The US produces so much more

>food than we know what to do with and the majority of it goes to

>feed animals for meat production. The part of it that should go to

>the hungry people of the world gets tied up in corporate and

>political red tape. It has nothing to do with lack of supply. That

>is just a bunch of corporate propaganda to get the world to buy into

>the whole GMO thing.

>Yes, they have produced that " golden rice " stuff. I've even seen

>advertisements on TV about it.

>More information: The Food Revolution by John Robbins.

>

 

And it's important to note that we've been here before. The " Green

Revolution " of the 1960's was all about about agribusiness trying to

get subsistence farmers in India and throughout the developing world

to use their specialised seed varieties which gave higher yields but

which also needed expensive fertilizer and pesticides (and guess who

supplies these !). The " Green Revolution " was touted as a boon for

the world food problem in much the same way that GMO crops are now,

but it was a complete failure, because subsistence farmers don't have

cash for these chemicals - only the big farmers could afford to use

these high yield crops, so subsistence farmers (the vast majority of

the rural population) were just put at an even greater disadvantage

and overall food production wasn't increased.

 

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

 

Paul

 

--

[Guest guest]

Paul Russell <prussell wrote:

Hello; Bonjour;

 

Oui, c'est vraie; je suis en accords avec toi.

 

Yes , it's true, I agree with you there.

 

 

 

Irene Marie

 

canadianmade4u

 

 

 

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

 

Paul

 

--