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What does GE imply?
The bigwigs in biotechnology claim that genetic engineering has miraculous answers to all our pressing needs for food. They claim that we would get succour from our present tight ropewalk and thus solve the huge hunger and disease crisis in the country. And the luring promise that they hold up for one and all is that we may well be able to do away with pesticides and other chemical use in agriculture, increase yields and live longer. The multi-billion dollar corporations stubbornly aver that we cant feed our hungry without it. And the scientists like U.P.S Waidyanathan says if we don’t embrace GMOs we “will be wittingly or unwittingly responsible for the looming calamities which may truly descend on us”.
We differ. We say to them,” DON’T PLAY GOD IN THE GARDEN” But that leaves you readers confused. If it promises so much good, why are we opposed to it? The world over, environmentalists, concerned consumers, activists and food trade organizations and farmers have come together to voice their protest against the impending threat.
Increasing scientific evidence is indicative of the truth that GE could have unpredictable, unprecedented, irreversible and hence disastrous consequences for the well being of all living beings on earth. Not to mention the havoc it will create to the eco systems now in place.
For all those not familiar with this mode of scientific wizardry, GE techniques make way for scientists to transfer genes from one organism to another, very often from one unrelated species to another to create new organisms. Genes are those entities within that are responsible for a particular function or feature of an organism say for instance resistance to pests, expression of toxins, increased growth and yield, nutrition etc.
Hence we now have a whole new set – tomatoes inserted with anti-freeze gene of a coldwater fish to enhance shelf life of the vegetable, soybeans that are resistant to herbicides, corn that throws up its own pesticides and so on. These are all pointers to the disconcerting and startling fact that Genetic Engineering creates organisms that could and would never exist in our natural world. And we may never know at this point of time what catastrophe they may lead to, manipulating in this manner at the very wellsprings of life.
As informed people of the perils they pose, it is of prime necessity that we say no to it now. The argument is simple. Science may show us the various possibilities as to what can be done. But wisdom and prudence is all about what should be done. How wise is it to proceed with such technology in our agriculture when a sizeable chunk of the scientific community has expressed its reservations. And how wise is it to march forth when w know that if mistakes are made, they are likely to be irreversible? And why do we have to walk this path when better alternatives based on a more appropriate vision for world agriculture is available for the taking?
Click here to visit our Document Repository on GE Reports
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