springing forward 51ful and swift. Six companies—Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont, Mitsui,
Aventis, and Dow—now control 98 percent of the world’s seed sales.
These companies invest heavily in research whose purpose is to increase
food production capacity only in ways that can be controlled strictly. Ter-
minator technology is only one (extreme) example. The most common
genetic modifi cations now contained in most U.S. corn, soy, cotton, and
canola do one of two things: (1) put a bacterial gene into the plant that
kills caterpillars, or (2) alter the crop’s physiology so it withstands the her-
ble for Canadian farmers to grow organic canola. The National Farmers Union of
Canada has called for a moratorium on all GM foods. The issue has spilled over
the borders as well. Fifteen countries have banned import of GM canola, and
Australia has banned all Canadian canola due to the unavoidable contamination
made obvious by Monsanto’s lawsuit. Farmers are concerned about liability, and
consumers are concerned about choice. Twenty- four U.S. states have proposed
or passed various legislation to block or limit particular GM products, attach re-
sponsibility for GM drift to seed producers, defend a farmer’s right to save seeds,
and require seed and food product labels to indicate GM ingredients (or allow
“GM- free” labeling).
The U.S. federal government (corporate- friendly as ever) has stepped in to
circumvent these proconsumer measures. In 2006 Congress passed the Na-
tional Uniformity for Food Act, which would eliminate more than two hundred
state-initiated food safety and labeling laws that differ from federal ones. Thus,
the weakest consumer protections would prevail (but they’re uniformly weak!).
Here’s a clue about who really benefits from this bill: it’s endorsed by the Ameri-
can Frozen Food Institute, ConAgra, Cargill, Dean Foods, Hormel, and the Na-
tional Cattlemen’s Beef Association. It’s opposed by the Consumers Union, the
Sierra Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Center for Food Safety, and
thirty-nine state attorney generals. Keeping GM’s “intellectual” paws out of our
bodies, and our fields, is up to consumers who demand full disclosure on what’s
in our food.
For more information, visit http://www.biotech- info.net or http://www.organicconsumers
.org.STEVEN L. HOPP