How and Why by Matte Resist

Author:Matte Resist
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Microcosm Publishing
Published: 2009-01-27T16:00:00+00:00

as big companies do. That’s when these companies start espousing the benefits of monoculture and genetically modified crops.

They offer these farmers loans for seed, often for a variety that has been genetically modified for pest resistance. Conveniently, the same companies with a monopoly on the seed market also have a monopoly on the agrochemical and pesticide market. So when they sell farmers’ seed that is not acclimated to their specific growing conditions, they can also sell them the chemicals it will need to grow.

One of the new “freedoms” we’ve given Iraq after “liberating” them is the ability to buy seed from transnational corporations. While Iraq was still reeling from the effects of the war, new laws were imposed with little or no input from the Iraqi people at all. The new laws ensure that Iraq has the same patent laws as the US, which were written by the World Trade Organization for the benefit of big business.

Seed saving will now be illegal in Iraq. Though the cultivation of grain was started in that area of the world, they are now forbidden from saving protected seeds. A protected seed is one that someone has registered and owns the rights to. Saving of these seeds is banned and royalties are to be paid when the seed is used. Previous Iraqi law prohibited private ownership of biological resources.

The laws made for Iraq may be even worse than the ones in the US because they make absolutely no provision for genetically modified seeds. They’re treated as no different from traditional seeds. It’s scary when genetically modified crops are unleashed on the U.S. It’s scarier when they’re unleashed on the cradle of civilization and the origin of grain cultivation.

Iraqis are allowed to save and grow traditional varieties—however—due to the lengthy war and sanctions, supplies of these traditional seeds are scarce, and transnational seed companies are more than happy to fill the gap. Traditional varieties can be genetically modified or otherwise manipulated and registered—making it illegal for Iraqis to save those seeds. The goal is to turn Iraq, an agriculturally self-sufficient exporter of produce, into a nation dependent on imports from agribusiness.

Another way of controlling the world’s food supply is terminator crops. Since it is nearly impossible to prevent cross pollination between crops, the next logical step for seed companies is to produce crops with sterile seeds.

Officially known as genetic use restriction technology (Gurt), Terminator crops have DNA that kills the embryos so that the seeds are no longer living. The possibility of this trait being passed to other plants through cross pollination is pretty frightening, especially since there has never been any large scale testing. If the problem is widespread, it means everything dies, because everything relies on plant life. A variation on the terminator gene is the traitor gene: the plant will only grow correctly if the proper chemicals are used. If you don’t use their proprietary chemical, the plant doesn’t produce. If you pay taxes in the U.S. you helped pay for 25% of the development cost of this technology.

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