One of the more deplorable things companies have done is create seeds which can’t produce crops with viable seeds for the next planting. This forces farmers to continually buy seeds from the company every year. This was one of the main reasons for developing Genetically Modified Crops (GMOs). Don’t listen to the other excuses, it always comes down to the money and this is a big money maker for companies involved in this. On top of this GMOs might be dangerous. They have been banned in some places. When something is altered which is living, whether it be a crop or an animal we really don’t know what the long term consequences of using that crop or animal will be. It is being said the World Bank’s report called “Enabling the Business of Agriculture” (EBA) has angered many different organizations, because it encourages the use of one time crop seeds. Unfortunately there are only six companies which control the sale of over two-thirds of the seeds sold. They would love it if every farmer had to purchase new seeds every year.

157 organizations and academics are making their anger known over this. They are denouncing the bank’s blatant pushing of the agenda of these companies. A letter was sent to the president of the World Bank and five of its donors. The letter demands the end of this project. As always the project was couched in the name New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. I hate when organizations use names which sound like this as they seem to tell us what a good thing this would be without ever mentioning what is really going on. I constantly receive phone calls from so called charities with names that seem to indicate they are police organizations, organizations which help children and which help animals, when in fact most of them never send any of the money collected or very little of it to help anyone or anything. It is a shame when this is being done to hard working people. The World Bank seems to be enabling the seed companies so I have to wonder why?

One of the problems with these crops is they are said to take over. There are stories about how the crops will spread if they are planted on the outside without greenhouses thus interfering with normal crops. The Institute For Responsible Technology states there are ten reasons to avoid Genetically Modified Organisms. They say they are unhealthy and numerous health problems increased after GMOs were introduced. They claim our DNA can be altered and this certainly doesn’t seem like a good thing to me. The institute cites so many problems it seems criminal to use GMOs. It states we probably will never be able to clean up the contamination they cause, because it will outlast even nuclear contamination. Most crops are designed to be herbicide tolerant and more herbicides will be used further contaminating the environment.

One of the things The Institute For Responsible Technology believes is that government oversight of GMOs is very lax and most of the risks of using these crops is ignored. They state the FDA didn’t even request a single safety study before okaying the crops. I have to wonder how many people remember some of these same companies which are producing these crops also produced Agent Orange, DDT and other dangerous chemicals and told us they were safe. Agent Orange devastated some of the military who were fighting in Vietnam where it was used. We all know how dangerous DDT turned out to be. Should we be putting our trust into companies who are there just to make a profit? It is no secret most companies will take the easy path and they will also try to sell us something we have to continue to buy. This may be fine for razor blades, but is it ethically correct to try and stop us from buying seeds which are produced by nature and substituting a product which many say might be dangerous which will ruin other crops and need seeds to be purchased every year. Where are the government regulations, where is the oversight? Sure we all know the FDA is understaffed, but this problem has to be one of the most important and should be at the top of the list since it affects all of us and surely will spread to other countries as the wind, rain and animals spread the crops to Canada, Mexico and eventually all across Central and South America. On top of that the seeds are being sold in other countries so it isn’t just nature spreading this blight.

The World Bank is touting Tanzania as a model country, because it claims it is enacting intellectual property laws in agriculture. They have bound themselves to the 1991 UPOV Convention and the bank is saying this is a good thing. So what is UPOV? It is a pro-industry treaty and it restricts farmer’s rights to save, exchange and sell seeds. How in the world can anyone or any organization say this is a good thing? It is only a good thing for the seed companies. One has to wonder how much corruption was involved in this. As my Jewish friends would say this takes a lot of Chutzpah to say such a bad thing for people is a good thing.

People should be given all the facts before they make up their minds to buy or not buy these agricultural products, but even before that the governments of the countries where they are going to be used should have the responsibility of testing them and determining if they are safe. One would think the United States would be a world leader in this, but the truth is we are not. European governments are more concerned about GMOs than the U.S. government is. It is time for this to end before it is too late and unfortunately the damage which has already been done will probably stay with us. Allowing companies to use GMO foods in products and not have to list it on their contents label is incredible to me.