US Senate, Bill Gates Give the Planet a Middle Finger for Earth Day
Today the Senate Foreign Relations committee held a hearing on the Global Food Security Act (S.384), which, as I have documented on this blog before, Monsanto HAS been involved in lobbying on. One of the clauses in the bill specifies that the U.S....
April 22, 2010 | Source: La Vida Locavore | by Jill Richardson
Today the Senate Foreign Relations committee held a hearing on the
Global Food Security Act (S.384), which, as I have documented on this
blog before, Monsanto HAS been involved in lobbying on. The bill first
came to my attention about a year ago, when the same committee held a very
similar hearing about the same bill. In the year since then, I’ve
become increasingly knowledgeable and outraged about the issues
surrounding global food security. In the meantime, the Obama
Administration took the lead on the issue of global food security from
the Senate, and USAID is doing quite a bit already (in partnership with
the World Bank and private organizations and companies) to really f*ck
things up worldwide.
One of the clauses in the bill specifies that the U.S. should promote
biotechnology in its efforts to combat global hunger. After a year of
lobbying to ask them to remove this, they still haven’t. Lugar made a
point today in saying how necessary he thought GMOs are. My very
inadequate transcription of his remarks are as follows:
The average African farmer’s yield per acre is
1/2 that of an Indian farmer, 1/4 that of a Chinese farmer, and 1/5 of
an American. [Something about Bill Gates’ piece in the Wall Street
Journal today] The role of GMOs in agriculture development is a matter
of contention. Europe’s rejection of GM has pressured African
governments for fear they will lose export markets. Others argue safety
is not proven despite 2 decades of safe use of GMOs. This ensures that
much of the continent [Africa] will lack the tools to deal with changing
climate in the long run. We may not be able to double food output by
2050. I ask to what extent does USAID support a full range of
technologies? To what extent do the strategies encourage biotech?
Here’s the thing. The “double food output by 2050” figure is one that
was created by idiots. Or just very greedy assholes. It assumes that
the rest of the world will want to eat much more grain-fed meat (like
Americans do now). Unfortunately, Mother Nature does not operate like a
market with supply and demand. A diet of grain-fed meat means increased
diet-related chronic illnesses for those who eat it. And it means
continued and worsened environmental degradation and climate change for
the planet. Our species existence on this planet is contingent on us NOT
increasing grain-fed meat consumption (and in fact, on DECREASING it).
Therefore, the Senate, USAID, and Bill Gates are all aiming for a false
goal.