Mercy Global Concern - 2002
Food Safety -
Food Security
If Africa is to survive in this age of intense global competition,
its primary focus needs to be development. The process of development
needs to identify and assess potential bottlenecks working for and
against positive change. Positive change needs to be local, national
and international in order to be effective. In the past efforts
made at understanding development in Africa have tended to focus
within the continent, and rarely focused at global levels. This
omission has been especially damaging in international law, global
economics and local empowerment which would have enabled people
at the grassroots level to understand and then take charge of what
effects their individual and group life.
International law, with the United Nations as its central institution,
was put in place at the end of the Second World War, which was really
a war of Europe and its Diaspora. This is why the UN and its Security
Council is seen as a club of Permanent Members, consisting of Europeans
(Britain, France and Russia) their Diaspora the United States of
America with only China thrown in as a gesture to the rest of humanity
and that it is why it is perceived as so undemocratic. As for the
Bretton Woods Institutions, "they do not even try to have
a global facade since voting is weighed by wealth, and wealth is
directly proportional to the ability to extract resources from the
rest of the world, which is itself, proportional to a past history
of dominating other parts of the world by force, and the present
wish to continue to do so."
The other institution, which determines the flow of resources,
is the banking system. Aid is tied up with banking and virtually
all of these institutions are based in Europe and every dollar given
has a probable four-fold return. International law was put in place
to protest the status quo and as the colonies became independent
and finding it impossible to function on their own, they joined
the UN system and agreed to the international laws which had previously
"shackled" them. The developing countries tried to use
their voting block to change unjust systems with not much success.
World Trade
Colonialism was aimed at requisitioning natural resources, labour
and trade by force. When it ended, the norms of trade continued
unchanged and international law evolved to enable its continuation.
The latest development in this process is the World Trade Organization.
The General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was created
at the end of the Second World War, when the independent countries
were, with a few exceptions from Europe. With independence freeing
Africa and Asia, Europe found that GATT was no longer to its advantage
and looked for new ways to make money.
Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
The idea behind patenting was that if a person invents a new mechanical
invention, she/he should monopolize the use of that invention for
a set period. Others who want to use that machine would pay royalties
to use the invention. However, this system then began to be applied
to living things. It all started when the British government wanted
to ensure that seed used for agriculture production was of high
quality. It instituted a system for registering good quality seed.
This is known as "Breeders Rights."
This worked well for years and then four developments took place
in a desire to control the market.
- The big companies who wanted to control the market rather than
individual inventive minds became the beneficiaries. Preparing
a US patent application can cost US$40,000.
- Seed production moved from the hands of the farmer to the corporations.
- In Europe only a genetically engineered variety of plant can
be patented, but in the USA, any plant variety can be patented.
- Patenting of living things has become accepted in the USA and
Europe.
Abuses:
Extreme examples of abuse behind the patenting of life are the
moves made by various transnational corporations.
For example: Moves are now being made to programme death into second
generations of seed so that farmers will be forced to buy new seed
every year. Developing countries are being targeted and the idea
is to make farmers so completely dependent by providing them with
cheap seed and agrochemical inputs until they lose their traditional
systems of seed supply, soil fertility restoration and pest and
disease management. It has been reported that because of debts acquired
in this way and the bleak prospects of ever paying back, about 500
framers committed suicide in India in 1998.
The original producers of Basmathi rice, the smallholder farmers
of India have lost their market to the USA. Rice from India and
Pakistan can no longer carry the name "Basmathi" because
it has been patented by a USA multinational.
This global injustice is perpetuated because the intellectual achievements
of local and indigenous people are not fully recognized or legally
protected. The multinationals can do this because they take a resource,
rename it and then make it their own by some small modification.
Biosafety and Genetic Engineering:
The idea of mixing genes from various sources is very exciting;
and many useful genetic recombinations may be made in this way.
However, such daring risk-taking needs to be coupled with rigorous
liability and a redress system. Sue Bradford the co-author with
Jan Rocha of "Cutting the Wire" has this to say...
"Our brief history to the world of bio-technology giants
has been so disastrous that we fervently hope that other Latin American
countries will take us as an example of what not to do.
When Monsanto arrived in Argentina in 1996 with the first of its
GM crops, Round-Up Ready Soya beans, it made very attractive promises
to Argentine farmers. This new bean has a special gene to make it
resistant to powerful pesticides and farmers were promised that
this new bean would be easier to farm and grow. Yields would be
higher and costs lower. About 90% of Argentine farmers agreed to
sign up for the new bean.
At first sight, everything seemed great, The Soya bean crop doubled
to 27 million tons, making the country the third largest producer
of the commodity. A closer look reveals a different story. Despite
the promises the Soya beans have had a six-fold lower yield than
conventional Soya beans, farmers are now using two to three times
more pesticides than previously. Overall, total costs have risen
14 per cent. Soya prices have dropped as a result of over production
and farmers are actually worse off. Even more alarming is the ecological
damage. Native woods have disappeared as the Soya front has advanced.
Normal biological cycles are interrupted and the soil is turning
into a cinder."
Aid and trade under these circumstances will not help developing
countries so what are the alternatives?
Africa for its part is showing signs that it is realizing the fact
that its prospects can improve if it can change international law.
The best example of this was the WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle
in 1999. Kenya, leading the African group, presented Africa's
views on Trade related to Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
This was disregarded by the WTO. The African group, supported by
Latin America and the Caribbean stated that it would not agree to
anything unless its views were heard. The conference collapsed.
As the present greed cycle comes to an end, Africa will be a major
player in and gain, substantially by making the world fairer. This
will probably take a generation or two. Hopefully the children of
the future will experience the difference!
Deirdre Mullan RSM
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