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INT – FOOD AID:OPINION
Let Them Eat Cake
28 November 2006. Source: Editorial, Investor's Business Daily, Nov. 28, 2006
http://www.investors.com via AgBioView
Science: Would environmentalists rather let the hungry in Africa starve than give up their goal of eradicating genetically modified foods?
Wish we didn't have to ask such a question. But how could we not after hearing the latest demands from the Friends of the Earth?
The environmental group held news conferences Monday in Ghana and Sierra Leone to express its concerns about genetically modified organisms and ask the governments of those nations to recall food aid containing genetically modified rice originating in the U.S.
The organization also is urging African governments to immediately stop accepting untested rice food aid and commercial imports from the U.S. The comments of Cheryl Agyepong, a foe of genetically modified foods and an activist with Friends of the Earth Ghana, were representative of the environmentalists' myopia toward what they derisively call "frankenfood."
"We don't want genetically modified rice in our fields," she said, "and we call on our government to take all necessary measures to prevent any possible contamination of our seeds."
Arthur Williams, of Friends of the Earth Sierra Leone, went his colleague one better by resorting to hyperbole. "We are a nation just recovering from years of civil war," he said, "and now to attack us in this manner is now making our people once more vulnerable."
It gets sillier. Nnimmo Bassey, who's with Friends of the Earth Africa, wants the world to believe the West sees starving Africans as cheap research tools for corporations. "We refuse to be used as guinea pigs in big business's experimentations," he said.
Friends of the Earth claims the genetically modified rice that is intended to stave off mass hunger is not fit for human consumption. It also insists that the rice - known as LLRICE601 by its maker, Bayer CropScience, and marketed under the brand name LibertyLink - is illegal.
Did the environmentalists just move from embellishment to outright lies? Just
Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture formally approved LLRICE601 for use.
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced that after a thorough review of scientific evidence it will deregulate genetically engineered LLRICE601 based on the fact that it is as safe as its traditionally bred counterparts," the USDA said in a statement.
The statement also said that the Food and Drug Administration "has concluded that the presence of LLRICE601 in the food and feed supply poses no safety concerns." This wasn't some secret decision arrived at overnight. The inspection service published a notice Sept. 8 in the Federal Register that Bayer was petitioning the USDA to deregulate LLRICE601 and asked for public input. A public comment period followed and was closed on Oct. 10.
No environmentalist can point to a single person who's been killed or even injured by a genetically modified food. Yet the entire world knows Africans die in large numbers due to starvation from famine, despotic governments and other preventable complications. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 34% of the population -- 194 million people -- reportedly goes hungry every day.
Friends of the Earth? Maybe. Friends of Africans? Not a chance. If they were, they wouldn't do something so morally reprehensible.
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