GM Foods Put French Agro Into 'Nostalgia'

There are many reasons for the French society to distrust genetically-modified foods, but hardly any of them is based on strong scientific argument, according to Dr. Guy Sorman, Advisor to the President of France.

Sharing his understanding of the French experience at a workshop on GMOs at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) recently, Dr. Sorman said partly the strong reaction against GM crops stemmed from the animosity against Americanism and the large US-based MNCs controlling this industry.

"We are in an era of nostalgia," he observed. There is a strong charm for traditional French agriculture and foods. GM crops are seen to be destroying this.

Science, as well as scientists, do not have a good reputation in Western Europe. Science is associated with the nuclear bomb, which the French society does not like to remember. Due to this connection, scientific reassurance on the safety of GM food does not carry conviction with it.

Then there is the lack of an ideological debate, he said. Gone are the days of debate between Soviet socialism and capitalism. "Everybody now is middle of the road, and genomics has replaced our ideological debate," he said.

The people and the corporations in favour of genomics have been accused of not having proved that this technology is the only alternative to increase the productivity of conventional agriculture, he added.

However, the strongest reason why the GMO debate flared in France is due to the Mad Cow Disease. There is a general feeling that the disease came from animal food. This has created the anxiety whether there is a risk of transmitting diseases to the consumers.

"The scientists did not come with an answer to what caused the disease, and this has reduced people's trust on GM food," Dr. Sorman said

Whether in France, Western Europe or India, GM crops have raised many a debate. Some of the views found expression at the MSSRF workshop.

Putting the matter into perspective Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman MSSRF, said that there are two challenges for Indian agriculture. There will be an increasing need to produce more from smaller land. Second is to increase the marketability surplus for small farmers so that they can get good income.

This would mean increasing productivity to 14 tonnes per hectare. Only biotechnology holds the promise for this.

However, the technology also raises certain issues, he said. These are issues of bioethics, biosafety, food safety and consumer choice.

Dr. C.S. Prakash, Director of the Centre for Plant Biotechnology Research, Tuskegee University, said that transgenic plants go through far more safety and environmental testing than the earlier crops.

"An insistence on extreme precautionary principle by societies can deny the benefit of these products," he said.

Dr. Swapan Dutta from the International Rice Research Institute said that the efforts at mapping various crop genomes holds much promise. The genome map will lead to bioinformatics, genetic technology and improved crops. However, ultimately it has to be chosen by farmers and has to pass the regulatory process.

Dr. Calestous Juma from the Centre for International Development of Harvard University, said that if the developing countries missed out on reaping the benefit from the genomic research then they will find themselves on the poorer side of the genetic divide.

However, if these countries did not have policy level action to bridge social inequalities then the new technological tool may even aggravate it.

Biotechnology is scale neutral, felt Dr. P.K. Ghosh of the Indian Department of Biotechnology. These seeds will perform as well in a small plot as in a large farm. So they in themselves will not add inequity between the large and small farmers.

The developmental journalist, Mr. P. Sainath, said that GMOs are being pushed by large corporations. As the power of these corporations have grown so have the inequalities in the world. So much so that three of the largest global corporations have turnover more than the combined GDP of more than 40 least developed countries.

"This is an era of market fundamentalism," he said. There is a mistaken notion that the market will fix everything.

The environmental writer, Mr. Darryl D'Monte, said that the entire GMO discussion raised strong ethical questions. Corporations involved with GM foods wanted to make profit from food, which is the basic requirement of humanity.

Dated : 9th August, 2000