Engineering Hunger

Andrew Kimbrell

1st May, 2003

In the penultimate extract from Fatal Harvest’s demolition of agribusiness disinformation, The Ecologist assesses the claim that biotechnology will solve industrial agriculture’s ills.

Myth number 6

BIOTECHNOLOGY WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE

The truth: New biotech crops will not solve industrial agriculture’s problems, but will compound them and consolidate control of the world’s food supply in the hands of a few large corporations. Biotechnology will destroy biodiversity and food security, and drive self-sufficient farmers off their land.

The myths of industrial agriculture share one underlying and interwoven concept. They demand that we accept that technology always equals progress. This belief has often blinded us to the consequences of many farming technologies. Now, however, many people are asking some very logical questions. A given technology may be progress, but progress toward what? What future will that technology bring us? We see that pesticide technology is bringing us a future of cancer epidemics, toxic water and air, and the widespread destruction of biodiversity. We see that nuclear technology – used in our food in irradiation – is bringing us a future of undisposable nuclear waste, massive clean-up expenses and multiple threats to human and environmental health.

...

To view the rest of this article - you must be a paying subscriber and Login