I've been reading The Death of Grass by John Christopher

I've been reading The Death of Grass by John Christopher, which a friend lent/gave me recently. But this is not a book review: just some thoughts about the book.

 

The Death of Grass, a short, apocalyptic novel from the 1950s, posits a dystopian future in which nation states have pressed their farmers to change to an almost worldwide growth crop of 'grass'. The 'grass' in the UK is mainly wheat. The 'grass' in China is, of course, rice. Other countries grow their own national 'grass'. 

 

Monoculture is always a risky undertaking, and so it proves in this novel. When a deadly virus attacks the rice crops in China, and the scientists who had been expected to be able to overcome the problem, gradually find it beyond them, widespread famine/starvation/death results, and once-fertile ground becomes barren. Nearby countries find, courtesy of the wind and other dispersal agents, that their grassy crops become infected too. Eventually the wheat in Britain, where the story is set, becomes contaminated. There is too little other food to feed a nation and everyone has to try to survive as best they can, and by whatever means, abandoning as they must, moralities they previously followed.

 

This book was remarkably prescient. The threat of agrarian monoculture in this century is here already in parts of the world. I read only today in The Ecologist, of the threat to Paraguay's small farmers, "suffering social and environmental ills from the country's meteoric rise in soya farming." I urge you too to read the article and learn how today, in reality and not in fiction, the ruthless agrochemical GM/biotech industry is wreaking havoc on real farmers and on the environment. And I hope that if you do not already oppose the genetic engineering of crops, that you will consider doing so. Everyone's fate may depend on curbing the malign power of Monsanto and the rest of the biotech industry.

More Saying No to Monsanto

Opposition to biotech giant Monsanto growing worldwide, new report shows
A new report by civil society organisations shows that around the world small-holder and organic farmers, local communities and social movements are increasingly resisting and rejecting Monsanto, and the agro-industrial model that it represents. The new report, jointly produced by La Via Campesina, Friends of the Earth International and Combat Monsanto - available in English, French and Spanish - provides snapshots of frontline struggles against Monsanto and other agrochemical corporations pushing genetically modified (GM) crops onto farmers and into the environment.
Read press release on the Friends of the Earth International website

Read what Dr Mercola has to say about Bill Gates

Read what Dr Mercola has to say today about Bill Gates. "Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, aims to end world hunger by growing more genetically engineered food crops—a philanthropic plan that may be gullible at best, and destructive at worst, both to the environment and humanity" "Monsanto and other biotech companies have collaborated with the Gates Foundation via the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to promote the use of genetically modified (GM) crops in Africa"
Do read the article! Its content and implications are mind-blowingly important.

Dr Mercola has written about Monsanto and its alleged Biopiracy in India

Dr Mercola has written about Monsanto and its alleged Biopiracy in India. "The government of India has made it very clear that they will not tolerate Monsanto's attempts to commercialize on their indigenous knowledge, a practice known as biopiracy. India's National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), a government agency, is suing Monsanto, the world leader in genetically modified (GM) crops and seeds, and their collaborators, the Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company, for using local varieties of eggplant to develop a genetically modified version."

GM crops have created superweeds

Super weeds 'run rampant in fields near GM crops'.
GM crops have failed to deliver higher food yields but have created dangerous super weeds, a report warns. Health and conservation groups from Africa, Asia and Latin America say that the fast-growing weeds smother other crops planted in fields near where GM crops have been grown.
Read article in the Daily Mail (UK)

Rally against GM potato trials

A Rally against GM potato trials is to be held at The Forum, Norwich, 12 noon, Saturday 23rd July 2011. "British trials of genetically modified blight resistant spuds have been failing for the last ten years. But a conventionally bred variety of blight resistant potatoes has been available for 3 years. So why are we still paying for their dangerous experiment?"

GM Foodstuffs should be labelled

Dr Mercola writes that GM Foodstuffs should be labelled, and I agree with him. I'm sure you'll agree too. See his article.

Soil Association lists the latest arguments against GM technology

"As the GM industry continues to peddle the myth that GM crops are needed to ‘feed the world,’ scientific evidence is stacking up showing the importance of agroecological farming systems, such as organic, in tackling hunger in the poorest countries. The current model of GM production and sale is just not appropriate for poor farmers in countries where people continue to suffer from hunger - which are not in Europe or North America, but in continents like Africa and Asia. Research from the UN has shown that the adoption of organic and near-organic farming practices in Africa have doubled yields, improved access to food for both farmers and local communities, and raised incomes through the use of low-cost, locally available technologies and inputs."
Read article on the website of the Soil Association (UK)

Lobbying could lead to unapproved GM crops entering European food chain

Agribusiness accused of 'scaremongering' lobbying tactics as it pushes for the import of animal feed containing traces of unapproved genetically modified (GM) crops - using the guise of combating feed shortages
The EU is on the brink of allowing a raft of unapproved GM crops into the food chain as it prepares to lift restrictions on animal feed containing trace elements of GM crops.
Read article in The Ecologist (UK)

Will oranges become the next frankenfood?

Will oranges become the next frankenfood? - Read farmwars.info on GM Oranges and China.

Indian Farmers Protesting Against GM Crops

Indian farmers have been mobilizing to protest the introduction of genetically modified crops into India and what they see as a takeover of Indian agriculture by Monsanto and other multinational biotech giants. The protesters say the crops are disrupting the domestic seed market and reducing income for all farmers.
Read article on the EIN News website

One Planet:: I listened to a programme about GM crops on the World Service recently

The programme is called One Planet. You could listen on iPlayer to this half hour programme yourself and hear from a molecular geneticist why we should be guarding our planet from the continuing spread of GM characteristics and the warning that commercial GMOs are able to "spread in an uncontrolled way and we are stuck with the consequences of that." And you can hear Bolivia's president make clear that his country does not want genetically modified crops, nor dependence and loss of sovereignty to the multinationals. And hear also Dr Roger Beachy, 'the father of GM foods,' speak about 'scientific ignorance and our moral obligations.'

I suspect that you are reading this blogpost because you are not in favour of GM food, and that Dr Beachy's arguments will not find favour with you. But his words are well-rehearsed and may sound persuasive to some listeners. If that is the case for you, then I urge that as well as listening to this radio programme, you get hold of a copy of Food Inc. and have your mind opened to the realities of the unscrupulous bullying employed by the multinational companies who deal in GM crops. - Slick words do not equate with ethical practice.

EC approved six GM corn varieties for food and feed

The European Commission authorized six genetically modified (GM) maize varieties for food and feed use after member states failed to return majority decisions for or against on three occasions.
Read article at foodnavigator.com

Survey reveals two-thirds of people in the UK want GM crops to be kept out of the food chain

Two-thirds of people in the UK want GM crops to be kept out of the food chain, survey reveals.
Read Friends of the Earth and GM Freeze press release at oneworld.net

The Soil Association is concerned about "The big fat lie about doubling food production."

The Soil Association is rightly concerned about "The big fat lie about doubling food production." Unfortunately, when Big Business is involved in promulgating statistics, we invariably find, as in this case, that claims made are not facts, but propaganda. And when Monsanto is involved, as in this case, the propaganda is very dangerous. The spread of GM crops/food needs to be resisted. No good will come of GMOs.

The Soil Association reports that governments are using flawed food production data to justify GM food crops expansion

Governments and pro-agribusiness groups are using flawed data on food production requirements to push for an expansion of GM food crops, claims a new report from the Soil Association.
Read article in Natural Products Magazine (UK)

The idea of further expansion of GM food crops horrifies me. I am surprised at some of the people who espouse the expansion of GM food crops.

Bulgaria votes against GM crops

Bulgaria's parliament voted on 18 March to tighten a law that effectively banned cultivation of genetically-modified (GM) crops for scientific and commercial reasons, in response to public fears.
Read article at euractiv.com

Monsanto's GMO Corn is linked to Organ Failure

In a study released by the International Journal of Biological Sciences, analyzing the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers found that agricultural giant Monsanto's GM corn is linked to organ damage in rats.
Read article in The Huffington Post
To read the study, click here.

Poland under threat from GM crops

The Polish parliament has chosen December 15th 2009 for a debate and vote on the new 'GMO Act' that, if passed, will open the door for planting GM crops on Polish soil, based on EU standards that authorise co-existence between GM and non GM crops on a commercial scale.
Read action letter from the International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside (ICPPC) at gmwatch.org

Court rejects GM sugar beets

Court rejects genetically modified sugar beets
The government illegally approved a genetically modified, herbicide-resistant strain of sugar beets without adequately considering the chance they will contaminate other beet crops, a federal judge in San Francisco has ruled. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White rejected the U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision in 2005 to allow Monsanto Co. to sell the sugar beets, known as "Roundup-Ready" because they are engineered to coexist with Monsanto's Roundup herbicide.
Read article in the San Francisco Chronicle (USA)