Ontario Farmer | December 7, 1999 | D. Rhea East
D. Rhea East of Stratford writes that the application of biotechnology to food production is not new. Fifty years ago, with the support of the Canadian government, scientists were isolating wheat plants which survived diseases and breeding these disease-resistant plants for use by farmers who fed the nation and exported around the world.
Some of these were eventually affected by new diseases and new, resistant varieties were developed. Improved varieties of other produce were likewise developed and made available. Cost recovery came from improved productivity.
The agri-food industry has turned that on its ear. Today, with the help of the Canadian government, multi-national chemical companies are isolating plants which are resistant to the chemicals used to control disease, weeds, and pests. As diseases and pests become resistant, chemical use increases. Atrazine overuse led to triazine resistance in, some weeds and its use was discontinued. It is now claimed that adding Atrazine to other chemical herbicides will improve their efficiency. Cost recovery comes from the sale of both the seeds and the chemicals, and the purchase from the multi-national of the necessary licences to grow the crops.
There are risks involved in the use and consumption of the new biotechnology. As long as there was a wide variety of a particular species available, some would likely survive a new disease or pest. From about 200 types of potatoes we are now down to just a few and there is less chance that one or more will escape an attack. The Nobel prize winner for medicine in 1996 praised the terminator technology because if something went wrong the seeds cannot reproduce the plant; this Gene Use Restrictive Technology would protect the environment. It will also eliminate that food source.
