GM in Australia

Posted by nicolaas on 29 September 2011 | 0 Comments

Tags: gm, genetically modified, australia

Australian Television recently broadcasted an interesting show in genetically modified (GM) crops.  There are lots of ways to change crops, GM being the fastest way to do so. Consumers are worried about that.  Some scientists also believe that there are not enough safety checks. That is a long debate.  It is hard to prove that something is unsafe by saying we don't know enough about it.  The people developing new crops are obviously focussing on the positive aspects.  Consumers, especially the ones that are naturally cynical about big business and technology, will focus on the (potential) dangers.

However, an important aspect that is easily overlooked is the ecology that comes with growing food.  That is, you can have the fanciest gm tomatoes that grow to the size of melons - but they still need a healthy environment for growing.  One of the farmers interviewed made the point that healthy soil may actually lead to the expression of many good genes. If we would genetically modify our kids to be smarter, then we would still need to educate them and look after their mental and physical health. The business model of having huge plantations of gm cash crops being grown in the same soil year after year will create a rotten ecology.

One of the examples used in the program was an Australian program to make wheat healthier by genetically modifying it. What we are doing here is adjusting our plants to our diet.  It is a bit like modifying chocolate because everyone eats it.  What is ironic is that while we are creating some new organisms, many, many more are lost, forgotten and ignored.  These are all the heirloom plants. The famous example is corn.  Where we used to grow thousands of varieties of corn,  we now grow just a few "super" strains. This is another big risk in commercialising plant species.  We increase risk by lowering diversity.