GMOs a taboo topic

The anti-GMO protest gathering at Government House has shown an exchange of arguments with dignity ( BP, Dec 10).

However, the impacts of GMOs on climate change have hardly been mentioned.

And, surprisingly, no mention was made in the media of World Soil Day, the highlight of the UN International Year of Soils 2015.

The Thai government presented a resolution to declare Dec 5 annual World Soil Day to the UN General Assembly (GA) in 2014.

During the launching by the GA President in its 69th session, it was stated that 75 billion tonnes of fertile soil are lost each year globally.

In this light the estimate by the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency that agriculture in Thailand contributes only 8% to climate change seems far too low.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research reported in the journal Nature that globally agriculture produces one third of all emissions causing climate change.

The gradual transformation of agriculture into a fossil fuel-intensive industry and the resulting migration to ever growing cities and industry is one of the major causes of climate change.

GMOs produced in corporate labs are the ultimate symptoms of this trend. Health bringing landscapes and agricultural produce are rapidly degrading into environmental deserts and toxic food systems, causing not only climate change but also an enormous increase in non-communicable diseases at the expense of the Thai public health service.

From this perspective we may expect that the National Legislative Assembly will not approve the new Biosafety Protection Act as adopted “without discussion” in the cabinet.

It would put the agriculture sector on an irreversible path towards industrialisation without responsibility with tragic impacts on future generations.

We need to support innovative organic agriculture based on cultural resilience.

The government will not lose face if it demonstrates that it listens to arguments from all sides (albeit late) and puts citizens first.

The “Oslo Principles”, recently launched by a group of activist judges and high-level legal experts, underpin the rights of civil society to hold governments and corporations responsible for the damages of climate change.

HANS VAN WILLENSWAARD