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Frankenstein is dead
by Ronnie Cummins
(Aug. 15, 2002 -- CropChoice guest commentary) -- Contrary to the claims of a literal army of public relations flacks,
indentured politicians, and scientists, the first wave of genetically
engineered (GE) foods and crops have apparently suffered a fatal
hemorrhage. Future historians will likely record Tuesday, July 30,
2002 as the beginning of the end, the day of irreversible decline for
Monsanto and the Gene Giants. On that day, facing mounting global
opposition from farmers, consumers, and even major US food
transnationals such as General Mills, Monsanto was forced to announce
that they were backing off "indefinitely" from plans to commercialize
herbicide-resistant Roundup Ready wheat, the most important new
billion-dollar crop in the biotech pipeline. Previously, Monsanto had
promised Wall Street that the first GE wheat would hit the market in
2003. Earlier this year, facing heavy opposition, they pushed the date
back to 2005.
Now Monsanto's highly-touted GE wheat joins the growing list of
obituaries of Frankenfoods and crops: the Flavr Savr tomato (RIP
1996); the Endless Summer tomato (RIP 1996); Bt potatoes (RIP 2001);
GE flax (RIP 2001); herbicide-resistant sugar beets (RIP 2000); and
StarLink corn (RIP 2000). Other controversial crops such as GE rice
have been put on indefinite hold. Monsanto's controversial recombinant
Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) has been banned in every major
industrialized nation except for the US, Mexico, and Brazil.
Recombinant pig growth hormone (rPGH) has been approved in only one
industrialized nation, Australia. Other biotech crops, including
squash and zucchini, are grown by so few farmers that it's difficult
to determine if they are even commercially available.
For the first time, major US food corporations, like their EU and
Asian counterparts, are telling the biotech industry to back off. As
Austin Sullivan, senior vice-president of General Mills told the
Chicago Tribune June 28, "Candidly we have told the biotech industry
that we are in a perilous situation." When asked why General Mills and
other large food makers don't just stop using genetically engineered
ingredients altogether, since consumers don't want them, Sullivan
admitted, "That's a question we ask ourselves from time to time."
Shortly before Monsanto's latest capitulation, a large EU grain miller
bluntly told wheat industry leaders that his company would "stop
buying US or Canadian wheat at once" if GE wheat was allowed on the
market. Other leading EU, Japanese, and US buyers have echoed the same
sentiment. Farmers in the US and Canada have also made it clear that
bringing GE wheat to market would lead to a billion dollar meltdown in
North American wheat exports. Desperately trying to downplay its
defeat and prevent its stock from falling even further, Monsanto
characterized their surrender on wheat as a "delay" until sometime
beyond 2005, when consumers and industry are ready to accept
gene-altered wheat, and strict grain industry segregation procedures
are in place. But as Monsanto, and even Wall Street, now recognize,
consumers are never going to accept GE wheat. Frankenwheat, for all
practical purposes is dead. RIP. The Bush administration, for PR
reasons, may still try to approve it for commercialization, but it
will never be sold on the market. | |
