Seeds are scandalous little devils. They go wherever the wind blows them without regard for property lines or trespassing laws. They're also remarkably promiscuous--reproducing anywhere they feel like it, and among whatever neighboring species happen to exist in that space. They are the harbingers of luscious plant life. I love seeds.
I do not love the fact that 3/4 of unique seed species were lost in the twentieth century. Or that we eat grains that have been made to produce toxins in their own cells. Corporations like Monsanto and Aventis have patented certain seed species and are allowed to sue farmers who grow those plants without permission or payment. What is happening to the world? Why is a corporation allowed to own life?
My theory is that the scientists who developed genetically engineered plants were terribly jealous of the good life that natural seeds have. Seeds live in complete freedom, and they represent the wonders of Mother Nature. In the laboratory that I imagine, the scientists are nearly all men, and they search for ways to harness and control this miracle of nature primarily because they cannot give birth themselves. Their desire to dominate manifests itself in their exploitation of nature and reproduction, which are symbolically female realms. Genetic engineering is therefore an extreme example of patriarchy.
The creation of mutant seeds is driven not only by the male desire to conquer nature, but also by the longing to make money. Traditionally, farmers save a small portion of their fields to collect seeds that they reuse the following year. But with genetically engineered and patented seeds, farmers must buy new seeds every year or risk a lawsuit from the industry giants, who test fields for signs of their genetic codes in plants.
In developing countries, the IMF forces farmers to plant certain kinds of seeds in order to receive monetary aid. This policy both manipulates farmers and contributes to the disappearance of thousands of native plant species.
Biotech companies convinced the Food and Drug Administration that the scientific complexities of genetic engineering are incomprehensible to everyone but the genetic scientists themselves, and were given the privilege of regulating themselves. The chair of the FDA committee on GE regulations, which formed in 1992, was in fact a lawyer who represented Monsanto; the system that he established caters to the biotech corporations and ignores public health and safety issues. The industry quickly proved itself incapable of functioning safely when it allowed Starlink corn (whose engineered pesticides were deemed safe for livestock but not for humans) to contaminate "normal" corn silos and find its way onto grocery store shelves in 1998.
Contamination is not controllable; it will always happen because plants pollinate one another and their genes can travel undetermined distances. Some farmers who are sued by the biotech industry for using patented seeds without permission have no malicious intent whatsoever. Their fields are simply cross-pollinated by neighboring fields that may grow patented crops.
Newly developed Terminator technology allows seeds to grow only in the presence of certain chemicals, effectively sterilizing the seeds themselves. This brings terrifying new dangers to the world of biodiversity and natural plant reproduction. This new terminating technology has not yet gone commercial, but when it does it could cross-pollinate and sterilize other plants. Without taking extreme precaution, Monsanto could unleash a monster that wipes out a significant portion of plant life on Earth.
Most European countries recognize the dangers inherent in genetic engineering and demand labels on food. Corporations like Shaws Supermarket, Kellogg's, Kraft, Nabisco, Nestle, and PepsiCo bowed to the tremendous pressure in Europe and eliminated GE ingredients from their products. They refuse to do the same in the US though, because they claim that the public doesn't care.
Do we care? The movement against biotechnology did originate in the US, and activists have staged thousands of protests opposing genetic engineering in the last three decades. But we are fighting a losing battle; more than sixty percent of the processed foods we buy are genetically.
Benny Gedan is a senior majoring in international relations.
