Thursday, June 3, 2010

Haitian 'Social Justice' Groups Want to Burn Aid Seeds

Someone explain how it is better to starve then accept and grow seeds selectively bred for more bountiful harvests, more resistant to disease, and more hearty under tough conditions.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2E5MmRjNTE0ZGUzZmZmNDFhMWIyYjE0NmMyNzE4YTM= (via)

"Four months after a devastating earthquake ripped apart their country, the people of Haiti are still suffering, so you’d think a multi-million-dollar donation of vegetable seeds would be welcome news. But two Haitian groups, backed by the activist group Grassroots International, are urging farmers to do the unthinkable: burn the donated seeds.

This evil campaign puts politics ahead of humanity, and it is sad that charities like the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the New York Community Trust are funding Grassroots International’s perversely named “social justice” campaign.

The two groups, the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) and the National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay (MPMKP), argue that the hybrid seeds donated by Monsanto will somehow undermine the “food sovereignty” of Haiti. They also assert, without any scientific basis, that the donated seeds are somehow unsafe. Nothing could be further from the truth, as seeds like those donated have been used safely for generations.

At first blush this might seem like just the latest battle over the use of genetically modified (GM) crops, similar to Zambia’s 2002 decision to let its citizens starve rather than accept GM wheat. But the donated seeds aren’t even GM. Rather than invite a challenge, Monsanto worked with the government of Haiti to arrange the donation of hybrids seeds, similar to seeds backyard gardeners use regularly. Both GM and hybrid seeds are safe, although Haiti doesn’t have the regulatory infrastructure to use GM seeds. But that didn’t stop these “sustainable agriculture” zealots from interfering.

It isn’t the crop they’re against, it’s the corp — they just don’t like private companies. They’re convinced that “agri-business” is a bad thing, as if private companies shouldn’t be in the business of innovating and selling agricultural products to people trying to grow food.
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Past related posts:
Berman Post: Haiti Smashed With Strongest Earthquake in Over Two Hundred Years
Berman Post: 500,000 People Could be Dead in Haiti From the 7.0 Earthquake
Berman Post: Twitter Helping Haiti
Berman Post: 7.0 Earthquake in Haiti Kills More UN Personal Then Any Other Single Incident Ever
Berman Post: Google And Facebook Join The Effort to Help Haiti
Berman Post: Chaos Reigns in Haiti
Berman Post: Obama to Write The Cover Story For Newsweek
Berman Post: Obama's Cover Story For Newsweek
Berman Post: Obama, Bush, And Clinton Join Forces to Help Haiti
Berman Post: ClintonBushHaitiFund.org
Berman Post: Bodies Line The Streets in Haiti (Video)
Berman Post: Women Survives Being Trapped For Six Days in Haiti
Berman Post: 6.1 Aftershock Rocks Haiti
Berman Post: US Military Ordered to Stop Handing Out Food Aid in Haiti
Berman Post: Hugo Chavez - 'US Weapon Caused Haiti Earthquake'
Berman Post: Trapped Under the Rubble in Haiti, There's an App For That
Berman Post: Steven Crowder - Marines Invade Haiti
Berman Post: Man Pulled Out of The Rubble in Haiti Alive 27 Days After the Earthquake
Berman Post: Death Toll From Earthquake That Struck Haiti now 230,000
Berman Post: US Forces Not Flying Our Flag in Haiti
Berman Post: US Troops Leave Haiti

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