Mike Adams, who
publishes Natural News and styles himself as the Health Ranger recently posted
an article entitled, The
Agricultural Holocaust explained: the 10 worst ways GMOs threaten humanity and
our natural worldon July 27,
2014.
He claims"genetically
modified organisms (GMOs) a serious threat to humanity and the environment? The
reasons span the realms of science, social justice, economics and the
environment, and once you understand this, you'll readily understand why so
many environmentalists, humanitarians, responsible scientists and social
justice advocates are strongly opposed to GMOs", and lists ten reasons
why? This is a ten part series. Here is Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V,
and Part VI.
He next claims that, “GMOs collapse biodiversity”, saying;
He next claims that, “GMOs collapse biodiversity”, saying;
"In an effort to monopolize the global seed supply, GMO companies
are buying up smaller seed companies and shutting them down, collapsing their
seed supplies. The following chart shows some of the seed consolidation
activity that's concentrating ownership over seeds into the hands of a very
small number of powerful, unethical corporations:"
(Editor’s Note: He provides a
chart in the article at
criticism #7. However, there’s no citation or link as to its origin.
I can’t confirm anything the chart shows, except there seem to be an awful lot
of seed companies - and based on everything else he’s said in this article – I
have to wonder if he doesn’t want anyone to know its origin.)
"This consolidation of seed companies has caused an alarming
collapse in seed diversity over the last decade, placing humanity at increased
risk for catastrophic crop failures due to a loss of genetic diversity.
That's the problem with genetic conformity: it makes the crops far more
susceptible to systemic diseases that can cause catastrophic crop failures.
Precisely this scenario is happening right now with banana crops, as most
commercial banana trees are genetically identical clones.
As a result, a fungus has attacked banana cropsand is
causing devastating destruction across the banana industry. The industry is
responding by -- guess what? -- foolishly turning to genetically engineered bananaswhich
will suffer from the exact same weakness of genetic conformity,
practically guaranteeing a future disease epidemic.”
Before I go on, let me state from the outset that the
worst lies start with the truth. But once the truthful statements have been
twisted with lies of omission and logical fallacies it’s perverted to generate
erroneous conclusions. It’s a lot like snake oil salesmen and a fast hustle.
It’s true that genetic diversity is important to continued health in seeds, but
everything he says after that is seriously flawed.
Let’s start with this business of loss of genetic
diversity he claims is being caused by “unethical” companies deliberately
causing a “collapse” (what does that mean?) in the seed market. That’s a load
of horsepucky! When I first read his claims I have to admit it took me by
surprise because not once could I remember seeing any commentaries about this,
and there was nothing in my files. So I sent out a request for information to
my net hoping someone out there could provide some information on this. People
started responding back about what he portrays as a deliberate and nefarious
effort to destroy biodiversity.
We have to understand that, just as in any industry, there
are natural ebbs and flows. There is a constant ebb and flow regarding seed
stock involving GMO’s, non-GMO’s, hybrids, self pollinators, and cross
pollinating plants. Just as there is in any business. Recently there’s a
resurgence in non-GMO breeding efforts because it appears we’re in a growers
market. This makes sense as the ASTA -American Seed
TradeAssociation states
on its web site – “everything
starts with the seed”.
One of my correspondents, who works for a large
international trade association involved in Agriculture, stated the entire seed
industry is very “robust….big and small companies alike”. All these so-called
consolidations have actually strengthened the mid-sized and small companies
because they’re more agile than the larger companies and can move more quickly
into profitable situations.
As for these companies deliberately trying to “collapse” the
seed market – I keep asking - what does that mean? Does he imply these
companies are buying up smaller seed companies and destroying their seed stock?
It seems to me that’s what he’s trying to convey – but he won’t dare say it
because he knows it’s a lie. No company would deliberately destroy seed stock
because these large science based companies know better than anyone how science
is constantly moving forward and tomorrow they may suddenly discover a new tool
to unlock some “genetic
assets in a seed line”. “Self interest alone would compel companies to
preserve genetic resources.”
Is he trying to say these large companies are buying up
all the small companies and hiding seed stock? Well, that’s loony. They’re
buying seed stock to utilize it in some fashion, and they’re not ever going to
eliminate the small and mid-size companies, and I doubt if they want to. It
wouldn’t be worth the cost and it wouldn't prevent new companies from forming.
GMO companies are not causing a loss in genetic diversity, they’re preserving
genetic diversity and enhancing the genetic diversity that already exists.
About twenty five years ago Waste Management Incorporated
decided the pest control industry was a good fit for their corporation because
they felt they had corporate expertise in the legislative and regulatory arena
that was compatible with the pest control and lawn care industries. So they
went around the country and bought up a large number of quality regional pest
control companies. Overnight they became the number three company in the
nation.
A lot of prominent people in the pest control industry
started covering themselves in sackcloth and ashes, wringing their hands,
believing this was the end of the small pest control companies – the
conglomerates were taking over – “it’s the end of the pest control industry as
we know it!” A few old hands just chuckled, shook their heads and said – that
will never happen – and they were right, and the conglomerate “consolidation”
scare ended.
Are bigger companies still buying smaller companies? Of
course! That’s the nature of business! Are small companies still coming into
existence? Of course! That’s the nature of business! Everything else is
horsepucky!
There’s one more thing about his claim that large
companies are deliberately “collapsing” (what
does that mean?) the seed market
that bothered me from the start. He provides not one piece of evidence other
than a chart without a source link - not one link to a commentary explaining
the information on the chart - not one commentary from anyone in the seed
market, including any small companies warning us of these alleged abuses - not
one quote from an honest broker of information and not one news story! Why?
He then asks us to take a leap of faith and believe that
GMO’s are destroying the banana crops in the world. He now issues another really
big lie of omission, claiming;
“This consolidation of seed companies has
caused an alarming collapse in seed diversity. As a result, a fungus has attacked banana
crops and is causing devastating destruction across
the banana industry. The industry is responding by -- guess what? -- foolishly turning to genetically
engineered bananas which will suffer from the
exact same weakness of genetic conformity, practically guaranteeing a future
disease epidemic.”
There’s a real problem with this Jeremiad in that he
fails to include in his statement. The lack of bio-diversity is common in
bananas because bananas are self pollinating. Bananas are not suffering from a
lack of diversity due to GMO’s. There are wild species that are pollinated by
bats, but those used in food production aren’t. I don’t know about anyone else,
but somehow I think that’s an important piece of information. Don’t you?
Currently the banana we’re most familiar with the a
variety called the Cavendish, and it is under attack from something called the
Black Sigatoka fungus, which is becoming resistant to fungicides. Did any kind
of genetic engineering have anything to do with this. NO!
The variety that preceded the Cavendish was called the
Gros Michal, also a self fertilizing banana. It became commercially “unviable”
in the 1950’s due to the Panama Disease, which is caused by a fungus to which the
Cavendish is immune. However, the Gros Michel isn’t extinct and can be used
where the Panama disease isn’t found. But let’s understand this. The Gros
Michel variety became commercially interesting in the 1820’s and it took about
130 years before this naturally occurring problem struck. All that happened
long before GMO's.
Within the next 10 to 20 years is seems likely the
Cavendish, which like almost all bananas lacks genetic diversity, will suffer attacks
that can’t be thwarted with fungicides. This will have a serious impact on
large commercial and small farm agriculture. However there are a very large
number of varieties of bananas out there we’re not familiar with which could
produce one or more replacements, although they would be substantially
different that what we’re used to. But no matter what direction agriculture
goes in this matter we must come to realize that this problem is a naturally
occurring one that can’t be blamed on GMO’s. In fact it seems rational that
GMO’s will be the answer!
Scientists have made announcements about the complete
sequencing of the banana genome, and by utilizing genes from wild species that
reproduce via seeds they could potentially develop a non-seed variety that
would be immune to fungi and even pathogens. Resistant genes from onions and
dahlias were introduced into plantains –a member of the banana family used in
cooking - which are demonstrating resistance to a greenhouse fungus.
Will they
make it in the real world? The only rational answer is yes - eventually! Will
this lead to high tasty high yield bananas at some point. The only rational
answer must be a resounding YES, eventually! But only if we abandon all this
scare mongering about GMO’s. GMO’s will save commercial banana production and
will end the need to make so many applications of fungicides, which is a very
real financial burden for small farmers. That's why American Farmers Just Love
Their GMOs and You Should Too.
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