Vandana Shiva has been at MS Swaminathan in the op-ed yesterday.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/op-ed/plate-full-toxins-633
The green revolution triggered in part by MSS in India had many drawbacks...but I used to think that in those times,(I am old enough to remeber the days of PL 480), the cost was justified since it made us self sufficient in food. But the same thing is now making us lose our grip on our food-self-sufficiency.
GM has always scared me. we are doing things whose long term consequences we cannot determine.
Any technology that interferes with living systems cannot be totally predictable. Biology is not physics... or even chemistry.
The case of thalidomide made a strong impression upon me (I was a kid) The horrible errors of judgement. (assuming it was not greed)..the side effect was totally unexpected. Similarly, the side effects of the transgenic organisms may not be where we are looking, but at a totally unexpected place...even more unlikely than the cattle that ate bt cotton and died.
It's like the way everyone including scientists assume ET life will have intelligence, need oxygen, need water etc....there maybe life based on S and P or on some other element .
2 comments:
Today, Dr. Norman Borlaug passed away. Rediff has an old interview of his, where it seems he is urging to work on these new technologies inspite of the naysayers. Maybe a good counterbalance to Vandana Shiva.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/sep/25mspec.htm
A great man - Dr Borlaug.
I think there is merit on both sides. The green revolution was a life saver at that time, but the problems of overexploitation is there for all to see.
The point is not that one should reject new tech, but to be aware that the risks are as yet unknown and exercise more caution than a commercial organisation would. The bt cotton experiment has not been a success for example.
We must not to allow commercialisation till the risks are totally evaluated.
Thanks for the link
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