Bio Technology and G.M.O.s sponsored by the Irish tax payer

cork | environment | opinion/analysis Saturday September 06, 2008 23:03 by Stuart

Conference at UCC 24th till 27th august 2008

Inside the Boole building at UCC last month Government representatives of Departments of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Trade minister Billy Keleher, executives from global corporations Dow, Monsanto and B.P. , Patent Lawyers and trade mark agents, members of the scientific research community, delegates from the pharmacuticle industry and the world bank.
Outside between 30 and 40 people representing stake holders of Planet Earth P.L.C. including organic farmers, Irish seed savers, Brown Envelope Seeds, G.M. Free Ireland and the Socialist Party.
Cost to you or me to be inside €810.

Also in attendance among what appeared to be a jamboree of the worlds aspirant and established Bio-Technology bussiness and scientific community ONE dissenting voice was to be given a platform amidst dozens of workshops and lectures. An A.U.N. delegate who had studied the role of G.M.O.s in solving world food shortages and found its contribution to be marginal and over hyped. Also in attendance a lone representative of the Norwegian Government keeping an eye on developments in the industry and when approached by protesters seemingly in the anti G.M. camp, and a Dutch TV crew ! ( Irish media nowhere to be seen ) Also notable by their absence Green Party politicians

Having read through several papers on this conference including one from MONSANTO on sustainable agriculture ! which reads as if they have become a branch of GORTA or OXFAM with stakeholder involvement and core community values, until you get to page 3 where 'after a positive outlook and a strong performance earnings per share up 36%' their true colours come shining through !

On the subject of strong performance, in all the words I have read and heard about GMOs and the Bio Technology industry I HAVE NEVER COME ACROSS ANY FACTS OR FIGURES DEMONSTRATING CONCLUSIVELY INCREASED YIELDS OR LOWER INPUT COSTS, NOT ONCE.

Inside the conference from monday to wednesday such topics as :
The role of agri- biotech inovation and international competitiveness

Mining for health promoting bioactives

Assessing the potential impact of GM crops for Ireland (TEAGASC )

One thing is very clear reading about this conference the reach of Bayer crop sciences, BP Aventis et all is that entrenchment into the labs and universities is global and deep.

Finally one more observation, for a subject so interlinked with the web of existance a representaive from the science of Ecology seemed to be TOTALLY ABSENT, such a representative would no doubt point out that cabbages and tomatoes just dont cross any more than ducks and chickens ever would I wonder why !!!