'Russia
Puts GMO Genie Back In The Bottle'
By William Engdahl May 21 2014
" ICH "
- " RT "
-
Russia has some of the most precious uncontaminated
top soil on the planet and if it is rigorously
controlled to stay GMO-free and free from chemicals
its productivity would increase as Europe declines,
geopolitical analyst William Engdahl told RT.
Russian PMs
have pondered a
draft bill outlawing GMOs. A draft bill
submitted to the Russian parliament likens GMO
production and distribution to terrorism. After
entering the World Trade Organization, Russia was
expected to allow GM food production and
distribution within its market. However, in March
Russia’s President Putin said the country would stay
GM-free without violating its obligations to the
WTO.
RT:
What do you think about this latest
bill in Russia’s parliament, which equates GM
producers who flout the rules with terrorists. Is
that a bit over the top?
William Engdahl:
The language on Russian media blogs is [that]
punishment for knowingly introducing GMO crops into
Russia illegally should have a punishment comparable
to that given to terrorists for knowingly hurting
people. The direction of this is anything that
stops, and puts the genie back in the bottle called
genetic manipulation of plants and organisms is to
the good for the future of the mankind. The comment
about 20 percent of harvest increase in some GMOs is
absolute rubbish. There is no long-term harvest gain
that has been proven for GMO crops anywhere in the
world because they are not modified to get harvest
increases. So this is just soap bubbles that
Monsanto, Syngenta and GMO giants are putting out to
loll the public into thinking it is something good.
RT:
Will this measure, if
adopted, reduce the number of GM products on the
market?
WE: I
hope it does. I haven’t got access to the paragraphs
of legislation but I think the direction that Prime
Minister Medvedev indicated two-three months ago in
terms of making this U-turn against GMO that seemed
to have a green light after WTO. A year ago it was
looking like GMO was a common thing in Russia which
would be a catastrophe. I think the point is Russia
has some of the most precious non-destroyed top soil
on this planet and the richness of this top soil, if
it is rigorously controlled to be GMO-free, to be
free from chemicals, from Roundup or Atrazyne which
is Syngenta’s favorite poison, and is marketed on
the world markets as certified organic. Russia has a
huge export market in Germany, in Western Europe,
the European Union and elsewhere because there is a
tremendous lack of it. So anything that Russia does
to block GMO, keep in mind, the EU has not certified
for commercial planting any GMO for years. There is
such a great popular opposition in the EU that
Monsanto, despite all the proclivities of the
corrupt European Commission in Brussels to go with
it, or even some people in the German government.
The population is absolutely adamant here, they do
not want this in their food.
RT:
How can consumers be
better protected from inadvertently buying
genetically modified food?
WE:
They can quite easily. First of all, they can do
what the State of California tried, and Monsanto
spent millions of dollars to block it and will try
again. The State of Washington tried it and the same
thing with Monsanto spending millions of dollars to
create false lobbying campaigns [ensued]. The State
of Vermont tried and succeeded in getting labeling
on products that contain above 0.9 percent of GMO,
which is similar to the EU. That is labeled on the
shelves, when you buy this box of Kellogg’s
Cornflakes you make sure to look and see if this is
not GMO corn in my Cornflakes that my child is going
to eat or is it this GMO garbage that Kellogg’s
would so lovingly like to get rid of. That is one
step. The other thing is for people to become
informed about what we eat. Support local farmers,
it is not against technology. I have seen it
directly in Germany and elsewhere in Europe that
properly done organic farming creates greater
harvest yields than industrialized agriculture. The
productivity is better, the quality is finer. The
animals that are range fed, grass fed cows,
chickens, they are real cows and chickens, they are
not these synthetic pseudo-meat that we buy on the
supermarket shelves in the big chains in Europe and
in the US. So that is something that Russia has a
great positive contribution to make.
William
Engdahl is an award-winning geopolitical analyst and
strategic risk consultant whose internationally
best-selling books have been translated into
thirteen foreign languages.
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