[p2p-research] controversy: GM foods and organic agriculture

[Hervé Le Crosnier]

Ryan Lanham a écrit :
> Professor,
> 
> Care to comment?  I've suggest GMO is a good thing for Africa--a line
> I've been told many times by development economists.  Maybe you could
> give some pointers to "independent" studies.  Is there an honest middle
> party?  How would one know an honest middle party? 
> 

	Dear Ray,

	You can't say things like this in a list devoted to thinking the
	process of changing society with a common-based approach.

	Let me say in three points :

	1 - GMO and Africa
	-------------------

	Have a look at the own Monsanto site to hear about
	a buggy OGM created in the States, and whoput South African
	Farmers on their knees.

White Maize in South Africa
http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto_today/for_the_record/south_africa_gm_corn.asp

	They have to apologize after a vast movement of framers.

	Michel recently send and interview about massive farmers
	suicide in India.

	Where do people get data to say GMO is good for Africa.
	I will be very please to read such an article, if based on
	data, not "pie-in-the-sky" for "future" GMO, that will
	certainly never exists.

	Bayer, an european chimist is near to lauch the modified rice
	LL62, which is built to resist the glufosinate weed killer.
	Problem : this pesticide is to be ride off europe, considered
	as too dangerous.  But rice market is Asia, isn't it. And
	so will it be of glufosinate market. (i only got french
	reference for this)

	Please send us datas and articles to explain how one can develop
	a country with such a bio-imperialism over their heads.

	The IAASDT Group, a council of worldwide scientists, as
	important for future of food production as the GIEC was for
	asserting the global change, issued a real worldwide study
	on april 2008. You can have an idea with the BBC article :

Global food system 'must change'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7347239.stm

	And the full report
	http://www.agassessment.org/

	The future of food production, if we want everyone to have
	food, is aimed at small farmers... the contrary of
	the gmo-pesticides stanza... They are scientist, they
	studied real situation, and they collectively make
	proposals.


	2 - What does it mean to ask for "independant" studies
	------------------------------------------------------

	Most studies that really get data against GMO are independant.
	They are not paid by agro-giants.

	When Ignacio Chapela, a scientist from Berkeley working
	with communauties in Oaxaca find existance of maize-GMO in the
	very cradle of maize, in Mexico, he wonders. No indian
	people never use GMO... but pollinisation is very hard to
	predict.

	Do you think it's university was proud of this independant
	research and findings published in the most influencials
	scientific journals ? No they just put him apart, because
	Monsanto was one of the funding partner of the agro-bio
	university center.
The Sad Saga of Ignacio Chapela
http://www.theava.com/04/0218-chapela.html

	Where is independance in research when whole monopolistic
	industries take hands on university ?

	3 - the "middle party"
	-----------------------

	Why have we to look for a "middle party" ? Is it science ?
	No it's political negociation. Sometimes we need to negociate.
	But when it comes to science, we need assesment.

	Let's have a look at the diverses strategies used by the
	tobacco industry to say that passive smoking don't matter,
	even if scientific facts say it really.

How the tobacco industry responded to an influential study of the health
effects of secondhand smoke
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/325/7377/1413

	It's in the leader British Medical Journal. Not an opinion,
	a research.

	Let's have a look at strategies used by petrol monopolies
	to negate global change only to go on with their profits.

Scientists' Report Documents ExxonMobil’s Tobacco-like Disinformation
Campaign on Global Warming Science
http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/ExxonMobil-GlobalWarming-tobacco.html

	And we really can go on (for example with absestos, with the
	new campaign from the platic industry against home bags,..)

	The GMO case will be based on the same process :
	- a "scientist" (even not) say there's controversy. Don't mind
	  the data, medias love controversies.
	- if there's controversies, as the one about organic food that
	  began this thread, so we're not sure, then let's go the one
	  that have the power to put us in front of their wills.

	Because, today, there are no democratic debate, neither about
	usefullness, neither about dangerosity of GMO. The ones who
	think they can dominate the world through domination of food
	are putting their experimental buggy GMO on the fields !!!

	These are facts, reflexions based on studies of documents.
	I have a lot more, and some in french too... It's not
	opinion, even if I am not a biological scientist.
	I'm a computer scientist, and trained with epistemology. So
	i can use my reasonning schemes in other domains... if I take
	the time to read, to inform, to be open for surprise.

	But with GMO, i was not surprized. I found a new
	bio-imperialism playing with life on earth for their miserable
	profits.

	We have to take time to read, compare, understand... and explain
	what we have found, read, understand. Sometimes simpler than
	the complex reports and articles we read. Because the future
	on earth is at stake.

Hervé Le Crosnier

PS : sorry for my english writing. That's not my mother tongue,
and it's a lot longer to think 	and write in english. Keep this
in mind... it's not far away from the debate on the use of this
list. I can't read just a glance and send back to the minute
a two sentences reflexion. I always need to be sure I really
understand, and take time to content information.
That's real list governance, and collective individualism.
And understanding the multicultural approach is also good for this.