Guyana and genetically modified crops

Nov 17, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
I refer to your editorial of Monday, November 14th headlined, “Genetically Modified Crops”.
I believe your article was fair in highlighting both the intended positives and growing negatives of genetically modified crops.
I first came across the term “genetically modified or engineered” when I was studying nutrition and vowed then, based on what was revealed to me in my studies, that I would never knowingly or willingly consume any foods that were genetically engineered because of their potential to harm both the human body and the ecosystem that supports life on earth.
This is my moral position. It just does not feel right that scientists in a lab somewhere are snipping, editing, re-arranging and re-programming genetic materials and combining animal genes and even human genes into plants and animals.
In my view, this poses unprecedented social and ethical concerns and serious challenges to human health and the environment. While I understand the initial reasoning behind genetically modified crops and the pressures to feed a growing population, as you stated in your editorial- “the claim that GM crops are insect resistant and herbicide tolerant and therefore reduce pesticide use has been shown to be a myth.” Further, the editorial said that “…GM crops have also failed to deliver on its promise of new traits of nutrient enhanced and climate-resistant crops to address the twin challenges of malnutrition and climate change.”
I do not believe that we have even begun to understand the potential horror of genetically modified organisms (GMO) on our way of life as we know it.
Erwin Chargoff, the eminent bio-chemist, warned that all innovation does not result in “progress” and has been known to refer to genetic engineering as “a molecular Auschwitz”. He warned that the technology of genetic engineering poses a greater threat to the world than the advent of nuclear technology.
He wrote, “I have the feeling that science has transgressed a barrier that should have remained inviolate.” “…you cannot recall a new form of life…it will survive you and your children and your children’s children. An irreversible attack on the biosphere is something so unheard of, so unthinkable to previous generations, that I could only wish that mine had not been guilty of it.”
Over the years I have always been happy to return to Guyana, a land where I believed food was still relatively pure, natural, unmodified, as God must have intended it to be. I am not sure of that anymore.
I am gathering from the elections campaigns that GMOs can possibly be the wave of Guyana’s future?
Lord, I hope not. I am now left with the feeling that I must as quickly as possible gather all seeds (and life stock?) that have not yet been tampered with and flee to a place where I can plant my own food to ensure its natural goodness.
Genius man in his so-called brilliance and greed is destroying the very planet he depends upon for life – like a cancer.
Diane Sinclair

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