The development of GM foods in China is a very mixed blessing. Companies such as
Monsanto are quite active there and may become more active as other countries
place barriers
on the development of GM seeds. The present trend towards capitalism in China
will only be
furthered. The development of herbicide resistant plants for example increases
dependence upon pesiticdes developed by companies such as Monsanto. On the other
hand there are potentially progressive and useful trends as well. For example
genetically engineered rice with higher vitamin A content. Shiva's comments on
this are really for the birds. She will go to any length to imagine difficulties
with any GM application.
She claims for example that people will get too much vitamin A and this great
traditionalist wants Asians to change their diet to get vitamin A. Shiva is not
even in favor of genetic engineering of drought resistant plants, plants that
might be a great aid to subsistence farmers in drought-stricken areas. China is
not blessed with any effective opposition NGO's and environmental groups that
might help avoid potentially disastrous mistakes. While in Europe the risks of
GM seeds are probably over-stressed, in China any risks will likely be ignored.
Cheers, Ken Hanly
Louis Proyect wrote:
> >Whatever ecological reservations progressive people may have about this, it
> >is entirely understandable that a country like China needs to make a major
> >push to gain relative advantage in the world. This would release vast
> >amounts of labour power and purchasing power for economic transformation of
> >the east Asian region.
> >
> >Chris Burford
>
> Economic transformation? You are referring to capitalism in rather neutral
> terms, it seems.
>
> Louis Proyect
> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
