Did Monsanto Force Seed in Iraq?
Juan Cole follows up on Susie Madrak's Monsanto story with an eyewitness report from Iraq.
The small report about Bremer dictating that Iraqi farmers cannot use
their seed from year to year is utter nonsense. It is not true. Iraqi
farmers save seed for planting in the next year as they have done for
many millenia and as farmers in other countries do.This is a
stupid rumor that has been circulating for about five years, nearly
since the invasion. There are few if any GMOs [Genetically Modified
Organisms] in Iraq, and [US officials] deliberately avoided bringing
GMOs to Iraq because the GOI does not have a regulatory system to
govern their use.I have written to numerous organizations
over the years to rebut this rumor. Defending Bremer, CPA and the US
Government about their behavior in Iraq is not something I normally do,
in fact I find little that they did right in Iraq. But the conspiracy
to botch everything did not extend to the case of seeds. . .
If you don't know what the significance of this is, listen to Raj Patel and Megan McArdle on bhTV.
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