Not many things are certain but you can be sure the agri-chemical industry likes to distort the truth about genetically engineered (GE) crops. We're not surprised that they're up to their old tricks again. Back in November our Executive Director, Kumi Naidoo, was interviewed by German magazine Der Spiegel, which included the following question and answer (our translation from German):
Der Spiegel:
"Genetic technology has come forth with 'Golden' rice, which can provide undernourished children with vitamin A and protect them from blindness. What would an African head of Greenpeace have against this?"
Kumi's response was:
"I thought about this matter for a whole weekend. I don't have a scientific background and for this reason I'd like to have another look at all of our scientific positions. We must be certain that we are not passing up any new, good developments."
Several websites connected to the GE industry are now reporting that Mr Naidoo said the following:
"In view of developments like 'Golden' rice, Greenpeace must reconsider its position with regard to GMOs. We must make sure not to dismiss new and important developments."
Adding insult to injury they even used headlines like Greenpeace Backing Down on GMOs".
And despite the fact that there was another article in Der Spiegel clarifiying our position on GE - the story is still showing up on a few web sites and confusing a lot of people.
To be completely clear - we remain firmly in opposition to genetically engineered (GE) crops. These crops can inter-breed with closely related plants thereby contaminating non GE crops and environments in unforeseeable and uncontrollable ways. The release of GE crops into the environment is “genetic pollution” and as such a major threat both to the environment and to the livelihood of farmers globally.
When I spoke to Kumi about this earlier today - he was concerned about the latest confusion surrounding our position and made the following statement.
"The fight against poverty and malnutrition is one I feel very strongly about and which I have been involved in my entire adult life. Our planet is fully capable of producing enough food for all of us, if only we would overcome the social, political, economic and environmental problems - the manmade problems - that stand in the way. In the meantime, we should not waste time and money with genetic engineering, which at best is only a dangerous and costly distraction."
'Golden' Rice, if introduced on a large scale, could actually exacerbate malnutrition and undermine food security because it encourages a diet based on a single staple food rather than increase access to the many vitamin-rich food plants with high nutritional value.
This desperate attempt to fabricate our support is yet another sign that the industry is failing to make any significant progress towards getting their risky products on the market. They are acting like a sinking ship - desperately trying to stay afloat. What they fail to realise is that they have already hit rock bottom because their "solution" to food security is full of so many holes!
For more information about our position on GE crops including 'Golden' rice: Visit our pages on sustainable agriculture.