The final article in this series of six about genetic engineering biotechnology

 6 - What can we expect?

Robert Anderson BSc(Hons) PhD

4 February 1942 to 5 December 2008

The century of physics, of splitting the atom and chasing isotopes, is over. We must ring in the century of biotechnology. J J Thomson’s discovery of the electron in 1897 helped spawn the atomic age. The dawn of the biotech age came when Watson, Crick and the often forgotten New Zealand scientist, Maurice Wilkins, elucidated the structure of DNA.

We have seen from the previous five articles that genetic engineering biotechnology is seen as the discovery bringing a giant golden goose, a maker of vast fortunes for the giant corporations. Profit has driven other scientific ventures, but nowhere near the same vast scale as that of genetic engineering biotechnology. Need this be a cause of concern? After all, Henry Ford pioneered the motor car, a product of his enormous assembly lines.

It seems that we have in genetic engineering a completely different paradigm. It is one which effects every aspect of our lives in the most intimate manner. Our drugs, the crops we grow, the food we eat, and even our own makeup as human beings.

Unfortunately, neglect of human rights is inevitable when the research agenda is determined by the private sector chasing corporate profits. This juggernaut driven by unchecked corporate power will effect all areas of global health and agriculture. All is seen as a commodity to be sold or patented.

An extreme example of this is clearly illustrated by the results of a recent World Water Forum with the final declaration that corporates refuse to acknowledge the right to water as a basic human right. Even though this was in direct opposition to the “overwhelming majority of the 4 600 participants who wanted recognition of water as a basic human right” This is a crime against humanity. If water and air are not basic human rights, what are? This sort of mindset is incomprehensible to thinking, caring people, but it is real and it is happening in all branches of the “life” industry.

The life science industries are the “Gene Giants” which include transnational enterprises that have come to dominate commercial sales of seeds, pharmaceutical products, food and veterinary products. These huge corporates grow bigger and more powerful on the profits. Corporate consolidation is nothing new, but the pace is breathtaking. For example, the value of global mergers in 1998 easily passed the two trillion dollar mark. A further cause for concern is the blurring of traditional boundaries between pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemicals and food production. These life science corporations are using complimentary technologies to dominate and control all of these sectors of production. In 1996, Monsanto alone spent over US$8 billion to acquire smaller seed and biotechnology companies.

So should this give us any cause for concern?

In the agricultural biotechnology sector, we have “Terminator seeds” - seeds that grow but do not produce viable seed. This is a dazzling technological achievement, but from a humanitarian point of view it is reprehensible. Farmers are at the mercy of the giant transnationals. This technology threatens the livelihoods of 1.4 billion farmers who depend on saving their seeds. As Dr Vandana Shiva said, “For Monsanto the bottom line is profit for the Indian farmer it is life or death.”

This world’s leading ten pharmaceutical firms control 35% of the $297 billion drug market. A 1998 report estimated that the adverse reactions to prescribed drugs was killing 106 000 Americans each year.¹We can expect an avalanche of genetically engineered drugs as research continues.

As far as agricultural chemicals is concerned, the top ten corporations control 85% of the world pesticide market valued at $31 billion. Twenty five million farm workers in the South - 11 million in Africa alone - may be poisoned each year by these chemicals and hundreds of thousands die.²

Swedish scientists have now linked cancer to the herbicide glyphosate to which thousands of acres of crops have been genetically engineered to be resistant.

Veterinary medicines, controlled by top ten firms, hold 60% of the $17 billion dollar animal health industry. Catastrophes such as mad cow disease were the result of not “looking” for dangers even after being warned by more astute scientists like Professor Richard Lacey. The analogies to time scale with GE foods should not be overlooked here.

Our world is now turning, it seems, not by natural forces but by huge multinational corporations. These corporations have the ability to produce more goods than our world can consume. They thus tend to focus their striving on consuming each other, together with any smaller constituents which may get in their way. This is done with the help of government approval and the use of so-called ‘Free Trade Agreements.’ The latter act as a funnel through which corporations might pump their produce to unsuspecting and frequently reluctant consumers. An veritable avalanche of genetically engineered foods wait for approval from the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA). These are foods which we neither want nor are of particular nutritional value. In fact, they are more likely to have potential health risks associated with them.

These international treaties and trade agreements are designed especially to create a world fit for the corporations to dominate and expand in. It has became an unsustainable state of affairs, taking on an even more ominous dimension when considering the world of genetic engineering biotechnology. And it seems that politicians are the least able to grasp this, either because they simply are not interested in doing so or else they fear the infamous “Trade Sanctions.”

Corporate officials are not only businessmen, they are citizens of the world. Companies should use their tremendous power responsibly. As C S Lewis wrote in The Screwtape Letters, “The greatest evil is no longer to be found in sordid dens of crime, it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not raise their voice.”

Indeed, by any measure the crime emanating from the corporate office is much greater than the crime in the streets. The effects are far more widespread and devastating, both to the environment and people. The effects of the genetic engineering biotechnology industry in polluting our air, land and water are incalculable. The overall damage to our ecosystem will be irreversible. Moreover, corporate power is beginning to subvert democracy. Giant multinational corporations, by participating in and therefore warping election results and lawmaking, bend and warp democratic processes.

New Zealand is at a cross road. We have the opportunity to remain free of genetic pollution if we act now. The “care” shown by these corporations in the past for our environment is a matter of public record; appalling. Why should genetic engineering change this? With the implementation of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Genetic Modification (RCGM) we must hope that commonsense will prevail and our country remain free of this dangerous technology. We can all submit our views to this so lets get busy and all work together to keep New Zealand “Clean and Green.”

Robert Anderson BSc(Hons) PhD 

Robert Anderson was a Quaker, teacher and writer. He was a Trustee of Physicians and Scientists for Global Responsibility (www.psgr.org.nz), a member of Amnesty International, a Theosophist, and a campaigner for peace and disarmament. He believed everyone has the right to equality and respect, freedom of speech and religion He lectured on many subjects to meet the public's right to be independently informed on issues of science, the environment and social justice. He was passionate about making this world a better place for the generations to come. He authored eleven books and regularly wrote for a number of periodicals.

Enquiries about books written by Robert Anderson should be addressed to  naturesstar@xtra.co.nz

For further information see:

GE Free New Zealand in food and environment www.gefree.org.nz/

GE Free Northland in food and environment http://web.gefreenorthland.org.nz/

Physicians and Scientists for Global Responsibility www.psgr.org.nz

Sustainability Council of New Zealand http://www.sustainabilitynz.org/

The Soil & Health Association / Organic New Zealand http://organicnz.org.nz/

1. Montague, P. “Another Kind of Drug Problem” Jan 7, 1999 http://www.rachel.org

2. United Nations Development programme UNDP Human Development Report, 1998, UNDP New York, Oxford Univ. Press 1998.