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Advisory / BIOTECHNOLOGY

Genetically Engineered Agriculture for Plastic Production 
Paul Goettlich

When the subject is genetically engineered crops, whether used for food, plastics, or specifically designed to produce an ingredient for plastic, they are totally unnatural and have no precidence in the history of the agriculture or that of the Earth.

And when it comes to the genetic engineering industry, it is quite similar to other industries, whether they make plastics, pesticides or almost anything. In many cases, they are the same industries that make many other products that have left our Earth in shambles already.

They are the Monsantos, the Aventises, and the ADMs of the world. They will say and do anything to accomplish the goal of profit above all. And yet, they expect people to believe them when they proclaim GMOs as safe. In January 2001, a Canadian newspaper article quoted a prominent industry consultant as saying, 

"GM crops may soon be so prevalent that there may no turning back, despite the cost. The hope of the industry is that over time the market is so flooded that there's nothing you can do about it. You just sort of surrender." - "StarLink fallout could cost billions" Toronto Star 9jan01

The person that said that is close to the source. He is Don Westfall, the VP of a consulting firm that claims to be the "Problem Solver to the Food Chain." Their clients include all the big TNCs of the world: Archer Daniels Midland, Aventis CropScience, Cargill, Coca-Cola, ConAgra, Dole, Dow AgroSciences, Du Pont, Monsanto, on and on.... the list is impressive. And there is no reason to believe even one of them for a single moment.

There is nothing about either the plastics or genetic engineering industries that anyone should trust.... unless our overriding purpose is mindless profit above all for the sole purpose of control, done so with total contempt for all life.

For more than ten or twelve years I have been seeking answers to many questions about plastics, pesticides, microwaving, etc. More recently, perhaps since about 1995, I have had serious concerns about genetic engineering, The answers I was getting from polymer scientists didn't make sense to me, nor did those from the EPA, medical doctors, toxicologists, or most so-called professionals I questioned.

If strange things are smelled or tasted in water from a plastic container, then why did the polymer scientist tell me that polymers are perfectly bound? Why did the EPA tell me that the smell and taste are not harmful? Why are medical doctors in the fog when asked just about anything having to do with prevention rather than cure? And why are biodegradable bioplastics promoted as a safe and sustainable solution to petroleum-based plastics?

Polymer scientists are motivated by the need of the transnational corporation (TNC) to increase output, profit, and control. The same political forces that drive polymer scientists drive the EPA. They need to please their master, again the TNC. The MD is trained to espouse the ideology of the TNC. It is the TNC that funds their education so that they will be aligned with the TNC. And source reduction is the overriding dogma of recyclers. This is not to say that what they are doing is evil, or that ANY of these people are evil, but my hope is that, in the very near future, a more complete picture will become evident to all.

Reducing waste at the source is absolutely required, but not enough. Everything that we use must be healthy to produce, to use, and be as close to infinitely recyclable as possible. It should be an extension of nature. There's no need for us to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.

Life is more complex than any one can comprehend. At present, it seems to me that the two forces at play are the desire to rule everyone and everything, and to live forever-control and immortality. It is impossible to control all. And nothing lasts forever. Plastic and GMOs are the embodiment of both. These toxins of convenience come to us concealed behind promises of abundance, happiness, and long life. Fulfillment of these promises is transitory and highly unsustainable.

"[T]he Power and the Device seem to fail at the point where the life they are intended to sustain might begin to be worth living." - Jacques Barzun, "Science: The Glorious Entertainment," Harper and Row 1964.

While I do not hold the following to be true, in the short term, these technologies may be sustainable. And they may bring much-needed relief from a wide range of maladies to many millions of people. But in a long-range systemic view of the Earth's health and well-being, they are not sustainable, and actually are hurting all of us.

That harm may not be visible at present or in the short-term, but even when viewing human health on a short-term basis-the last 50 years or so-one finds that we are not a healthy species. In the long-term, we are being stewed in the toxicity of our own conveniences-the toxicity that comes with their production, use, and disposal.

Toxins of convenience are transforming our very genetic makeup to the point where we are falling apart at the seams, both physically and spiritually, along with our environment. To blame one or the other technology is misguided when they are acting together in synergy, creating innumerable and unpredictable effects.

Looking at each separately, I do not feel that merely reducing petroleum, or even eliminating it from plastic is enough, even if it could be done without genetic engineering. The same goes for genetic engineering. It is uncalled for, unwanted, and unproven. Finally, if accepted, they are difficult to impossible to be rid of once the truth is seen. Proof of this statement is the hard work of many nonprofit organizations and individual people that want a peaceful, sustainable world. If you have come to this page from an outside location click here to get back to  

Source: mindfully.org