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The Final Call

Final Call News (FC): What are the advantages and the disadvantages of genetically modified seeds/crops for the farmer?

Gary Grant (GG): Right now, it gives a larger yield if you�re able to purchase the seed and plant it on time. The problem is you don�t own the seed, it belongs to another company.

Dr. Ridgely Muhammad (RM): The BT cotton reduces the amount of insecticide that you need to purchase. But you have to purchase it anyway, �cause it�s in the seed.

FC: What are the advantages and disadvantages of GM in crops to consumers?

RM: They argue that it will be cheaper, but it�s not going to show up in the food prices. For example, in a $2 loaf of wheat bread, there�s only six cents worth of wheat in the bread. Any reduction in actual raw product cost is not going to reflect for the consumer. Also, they are saying they will be able to inoculate people against certain diseases with the food, eventually. Well, if they can inoculate you against a disease, they can inoculate you with a disease. Since, Black people in particular do not have independent laboratories in which we can check this stuff, we put ourselves in a position where we have to trust people who have shown themselves historically to be an open enemy.

RM: In the old ways of doing things to increase varieties, you take the same crop, say wheat, and you hold back the best and then you cross it with another type of wheat or a type of grass to get certain qualities, because they�re in the same family. But in genetic engineering, you jump whole boundaries. You trick the plant or the animal, and you make something completely different which causes a problem if you understand how long it took, in terms of evolution, for the present system to be established.

FC: What impact do GM seeds have on the farmland? Pesticide use? Farming costs? Wildlife and insects?

GG: I�d think it is having an impact on the replenishment of the nutrients. You no longer see wild berries growing, things that were just a normal part of rural life. It�s supposed to cut down on the amount of pesticide. I don�t think that it�s really doing that. I�m not out in the field, but I�m just looking at the number of sprayers that go past and all of that. It�s supposed to reduce farming costs but the seeds are so high, particularly for the small farmer.

RM: Technically, it was supposed to reduce the amount of pesticides. But, they�ve done studies and found out in some cases they have to use even more. Mother nature has a lot of tricks, and she�s very resourceful. You can�t just do one thing and think you�ve got it solved. The weeds have been able to learn from the GM corn and soybeans and have become more tolerant against [some pesticides]. If there was some chemical that could kill roaches, roaches would be dead. But roaches ain�t dead, because they modify. The question is, if nature has to modify itself to survive, will we be able to survive? The higher level species are the slowest to adapt and transform. The lower species are quicker to adapt. That�s why they�re going all the way back to the stem cell. You use it to make other cells, because it is less developed. The HIV virus, it�s able to adapt and change, so you can�t invent an inoculation for it because it changes so quickly. It�s the humans who are most endangered in not being able to change quick enough to the environment.

FC: Is there a concerted effort amongst farmers in opposition to GM seeds to stock various seed varieties?

RM: There are a number of smaller farmers, organic people, who are heirlooming seeds. But the larger farmers don�t have the time. Seeds don�t last forever. You don�t have time to plant something you�re not going to be using. The farmers are forced to give up on the old varieties, because they can�t just grow them for themselves just to have seeds.

GG: No, I don�t think that the farmers have time to think about it and they�re so busy trying to survive that they don�t understand the mechanisms that are actually putting them out of business which would be the corporations owning the GM seeds.

RM: Right now they are going to eliminate the natural varieties. If they do that, then it means the Africans are going to have to pay for seed every year and they don�t have the money. Then the natural varieties are going to die out and they will be under the gun. In Africa, 70 percent of the arable land is owned by the foreigners. The brothers who want to farm, can�t. Most Africans are subsistence farmers. The people doing the big agricultural who work there are Europeans.

GG: It scares me. I�ll just say that.

FC: Are you an advocate of compulsory labeling?

GG: Yes. I think people ought to know what they are buying and eating.

RM: I�m an advocate of getting rid of this stuff �til Black folk have our own ways of checking it. But, yes, I�m in favor of it.

FC: What is the connection between GM food and health?

GG: I think that because people are not aware of what they are eating, their health may suffer. They think they are consuming foods that come from natural seed. And they are not aware of what�s happening to their bodies and what chemicals are going in it.

RM: We know they�ve crossed peanuts into soybeans to effect certain aspects of growth of soybeans. So people who are allergic to peanuts are now allergic to soybeans. The only problem is, you don�t know you�re eating peanuts when you eat soybean products, which are in just about everything. So people are dying and don�t know what they�re dying from. This is the problem with the technology. It fools the cells of an organism to accept something that is not itself. People with allergies should know what they are eating. As a religious person, I don�t eat hog. So, I would hate to eat a tomato and find out later that I�m eating hog. It allows for too much tricknology and lying.

GG: Black people [need to] learn to appreciate farming as a means of survival. There needs to be church and community meetings on what has happened to the Black farmer and why. Our Black urban brothers and sisters need to be a part of the struggle for their survival. Black farmers, small farmers are more prone to grow what I call healthy foods because they are not trying to grow thousands of acres. We can supply a more healthy variety of natural products which would ultimately impact the health of our people.

RM: The key issue is information. If people get the correct information so they can make a decision, then they can change things. The average farm is worth $1 million. Black farmers have more wealth than most Americans, but we don�t have the cash to utilize that wealth. When you lose a farm, you lose the wealth.

Something else we�re losing is the work ethic. When the consumers understand that what the corporations care about is profit and now the corporations are going to be producing your food, then they can see the value of having someone they trust to grow their food. American people like to eat cheap, but cheap isn�t necessarily healthy. As long as you care what your shoes look like more than you care about your health, then the Black farmer doesn�t have a chance of survival. By eating cheap, you�re killing the agricultural sector.