>Knight Ridder/Tribune >July 25, 2000, Tuesday >SECTION: COMMENTARY > >Biotechnology not the answer to global hunger > >By Deborah Toler > >Proponents of biotechnology are on the offensive. They say it can >alleviate hunger. But don't be fooled. Biotechnology could worsen the >situation. > >The solution to global hunger is political, not technological. The Royal >Society of London, the Third World Academy of Science and the national >academies of science from the United States, Brazil, China, India and >Mexico all claimed in a recent "white paper" that bioengineered food is >necessary to feed the world's poor in the future without destroying the >environment. > >But the call for widespread adoption of biotechnology is based on the >longstanding myth that global hunger is caused by too many people for >existing food supplies. > >Instead of alleviating global hunger, this proposal promises to worsen it by >strengthening the control of private global corporations over food >supplies and food-production technologies. > >Corporate control of the food industry contributes to global hunger by >exacerbating rural inequalities. The high cost corporations charge for >agricultural technologies and the low prices farmers receive for their >crops makes farming huge parcels of land _commercial and factory farming _ >almost the only way to earn enough to cover the costs of farming. > >It also results in commercial farmers trying to lower the cost of >production by replacing farm workers with mechanization, increasing the >poverty and the hunger of agricultural workers and their families. > >The environmental and health effects of crops created by biotechnology >remain largely unknown. In a dangerous portent, recent studies have >suggested that some genetically engineered crops may kill monarch >butterflies. The biggest fear is that biotech crops producing their own >pesticides might make insects more pesticide-resistant, thus >creating a vicious cycle. > >Inadequate food supplies are not the cause of global hunger. The world >today produces enough grain alone to provide 3,500 calories per day for >every human being on the planet, according to "World Hunger: 12 Myths" >(Grove Press, 1998). Fully 78 percent of all malnourished children under >the age of 5 in the Third World live in countries with food surpluses. >Many areas of the world popularly identified with hunger _ India, >Bangladesh and much of sub-Saharan Africa, for example _ export food. > >Hunger is an economic and political problem. Those who go hungry are those >who either lack enough money to purchase sufficient quantities of food or >who lack access to sufficient land to grow enough food. This includes the >United States: There are 36 million hungry Americans, according to the >U.S. Department of Agriculture. The fact >that three-fourths of the world's 820 million hungry people live in Asia, >Africa and Latin America is largely a reflection of the unequal >distribution of economic and political power of those regions vis-a-vis >the United States and Europe. > >Instead of focusing on biotechnology, the West and international agencies >such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund should alter >their policies. > >Most importantly, there should be a cancellation of Third World debt, >which forces countries to cut back on services for their people and >subsidies for their poor. > >Urban hunger around the world has remained a serious problem in recent >years, as World Bank and IMF programs and foreign debt have forced the >removal of government subsidies on food. Food prices have skyrocketed due >to these policies. A number of countries, such as Zambia, Zimbabwe and >Indonesia, have even witnessed food riots as a result. > >Rural hunger tends to be the worst in those countries with the most >inequitable distribution of land. A number of processes are contributing >to this. In order to earn foreign exchange to repay international debts, >developing countries are often being forced, under World Bank and IMF >tutelage, to turn their most productive land over to export crops like >flowers and designer vegetables, leaving ecologically fragile land for >staple food crops. > >Free-trade policies promoted by the West and by the World Bank and IMF are >allowing the United States and other rich countries to flood Third World >markets with our food surpluses. In the process, the livelihoods of poor >Third World farmers and agricultural workers are being destroyed. > >There are alternatives to biotechnology. Farmers have always known how to >grow food. Given adequate amounts of arable land, the poor rural >majorities in most developing countries can produce more than enough to >food to feed their families and even enough surplus to sell on local >markets without having to resort to biotechnology. > >The solution to ending world hunger does not lie in the wider distribution >of still another set of corporate-controlled food production technologies. >It lies in the far more difficult political problem of redistributing >resources from rich regions to poor ones and from the rich to the poor >within each country. > >ABOUT THE WRITER > >Deborah Toler is a policy analyst at the Institute for Public Accuracy in >Washington. She is currently completing a book on the political economy of >race and hunger in Africa. She can be reached at >pmproj(AT)progressive.org, or by writing to Progressive Media >Project, 409 East Main St., Madison, Wis. 53703.