An abridged version of this piece was printed in the Finance and Business pages of Daily DAWN on March 13, 2015.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1175542/farmers-or-corporate-sovereignty
The Pakistan Senate, in the context of passing the Amended Pakistan Seed Act 2014, has much to think about. It is indeed fortunate that so many new developments with respect to genetic engineering technology are coming to light at this point which will provide the Senate easy access to the many pros and cons in evaluating acceptance or rejection of the draft Amended Seed Act 2014, which was accepted by the Pakistan National Assembly, just four days prior to the new findings provided by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and organ of the World Health Organization (WHO).
IARC has stated that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” The news brief in which this statement was made by the IARC to assess the carcinogenicity of the organophosphate pesticides is of critical importance was published in the globally acclaimed medical journal The Lancet on March 20, 2015. The brief is a summary of the report that is to be published shortly as Volume 112 of the IARC Monographs.
According to IARC “Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum herbicide, currently with the highest production volumes of all herbicides. It is used in more than 750 different products for agriculture, forestry, urban, and home applications. Its use has increased sharply with the development of genetically modified glyphosate-resistant crop varieties. Glyphosate has been detected in air during spraying, in water, and in food.
Glyphosate is used in the Monsanto’s branded herbicide Roundup Ready which can be sprayed on crops that have been genetically engineered to tolerate glyphosate. In essence, Glyphosate is dangerous for human and animal health. But Monsanto is once again refusing to accept the WHO report. This has been the refrain that Monsanto has used for all scientific studies which point to the dangers of GM technologies.
For the Pakistan Senate, this news is of critical importance in deciding the fate of the Amended Seed Act 2014. For more than two decades, across the globe people’s organizations, farmers’ organizations and many credible scientists societies have been asking governments to follow the precautionary principle meaning only use a new technology when it has been proven to be safe. But gigantic corporations such as Monsanto have consistently blocked moves by governments to follow a more sustainable agriculture policy, especially policies which guard economic interests of small farmers as opposed to corporate interests.
However, to some extent genetically engineered crops and seeds and other GE products have steadily been facing mounting pressure from many sides. In this respect, one cannot forget the recent legislation passed in January 2015 in the European Union which has given its individual member countries to allow GM crop production in the country as per their own decision. This is basically due to the persistent position taken by European people in many countries especially Germany and France, that they consider GE foods and crops very harmful to human health and the environment, and did not want to be put to risk by consuming such products.
If such highly technologically advanced countries such as in the EU are opposing GE crops, is it not important for the Pakistan Senate to think about promoting such technology which could harm their own people? In Pakistan, the National Biosafety Committee is no more functional and hence there is no legal mechanism for approving new GE seeds in the country. The issue under the 18th Amendment is now a provincial subject, but the provinces have not taken any steps to take on this responsibility. In a recent news item by DAWN it was stated that according to Mr. Asif Shuja, former director general of the Environment Protection Agency, the country does not have the expertise to conduct safe trials of GM crops.
Further, the current EPA Director General, Mr. Khurshid has termed GM crops as ‘weapons of mass destruction’. Similar statements have been made by the Foreign Office, Pakistan who believes that GM seeds are a matter of national security and trade. No doubt, this is in context to the TRIPS agreement in the World Trade Organization (WTO); an agreement which was forced on third world countries to guard the profit-driven interests of advanced industrial countries. Paramount among them was the USA who was guarding the IPR interests of its agro-chemical, seed and biotechnology firms.
In Pakistan, many non-government organizations, and mass-based farmer organizations and associations have taken a principled stand against accepting genetically engineered seeds in the country. Recently, many farmer organizations and NGOs have sent a letter to the Chairman Senate asking them to reject the proposed Seed Act 2014 and in its place enact a Bill which would protect the seed sovereignty interests of the small farmers of th country, who are no doubt the most productive force of the country. The stand is not only based on issues of environmental and health concerns that are the basis of a majority of the EU population, and the Pakistani government officials, but also lodged in the collective right of farmers on seed. This position rests on the historical collection and development of the genetic resources of millions of plant varieties abundantly present in the diverse ecosystems of the Earth by millions of small farmers across the continents through many millennia. Today, the likes of Monsanto are only able to develop their so called new seeds based on the germ-plasm collected by farmers, especially farmers of third world countries such as Pakistan. The Harapa Museum in Sahiwal is testament to the rich centuries old agrarian history of our country and the region. It is truly amazing that a seed from many thousands of years can be seen in the Museum. Given the cultural heritage of our country and our people, our farmers, why is our government allowing profit-driven seed corporations to implement new seed laws?
New technologies are only welcome if they come in the interest of the people; in the interest of our farmers; in the interest of increasing national self-reliance; in the interest of national and people’s sovereignty and indeed sustainable development. It is to be hoped that the Pakistan Senate will keep these aspirations as their guiding principal when they sit down to discuss the potential benefit or harm of the draft Amended Seed Act 2014, whos function as a legal tool is to bring prosperity to the most productive sector of the country: the small and landless farmers of Pakistan.
The writer is an activist working with small and landless farmers in the country. She holds a doctorate in Social Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota, USA.
Azra Talat Sayeed @ azra.sayeed@gmail.com