GMO from the premier

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

It will be possible to apply for registration of GMOs as planting material from June 1, 2014, and the first crop of genetically modified soybeans will most likely be harvested in 2016-2017. It is known that the transnational corporations Syngenta, Monsanto, KWS, Pioneer will be the seed suppliers.

In this regard, the Ministry of Health is creating a specialized register of GMOs and products with its use, and several departments will issue relevant certificates at once. Food products are included in the Rospotrebnadzor, animal feed will be handled by Rosselkhoznadzor, medicines - by the Ministry of Health, medical products - by Roszdravnadzor.

At first glance, this is logical and justified by concern for the citizens of the country, but if you carefully understand the problem, no one knows how to assess the real consequences of certain GMO products. For example, if in some region the number of miscarriages has sharply increased, or statistics on oncological diseases have worsened, it is virtually impossible to prove that these genetically engineered organisms are to blame.

“In Russia there are no methods or equipment that could decipher the genetically modified code of imported seeds,” says Director for External Relations of the Union of Organic Agriculture Anna Lyubovedskaya- in fact, we will buy seeds "blindly", on faith, they say, the Americans themselves eat it, which means that we must. But, firstly, none of our specialists will be able to check what exactly is being imported into Russia, and secondly, what they produce for themselves and what for other countries is very different. In America itself, there are many opponents of GMO products, including among reputable scientists."

"SP": - How dangerous are these technologies for agricultural turnover?

- Here it is necessary to clearly understand that the cultivation of GMOs is carried out in the complex use of herbicides and insecticides, special pesticides for the destruction of weeds and insect pests. Farmers will be forced to buy both. This is a double economic dependency. Everything on Earth develops in accordance with uniform biological laws. If you remember the first use of antibiotics, the effect was overwhelming. Now more and more sophisticated antibiotics have to be invented, as bacteria adapt to them and become stronger and more aggressive. It's the same here. Developers of GMOs are forced to constantly enhance the toxic properties of herbicides and insecticides, since weeds also quickly mutate. As a result, the yield of GMOs gradually decreases, and we get weeds that cannot be dealt with if we decide to sow normal seeds.

"SP": - In other words, if it suddenly turns out that GMO is harmful and you have to give it up, you won't plant anything on these fields?

- This is one of the most dire consequences. Some GM plants have cross-pollination, so we will launch the mechanism of contamination of nature with GM crops. In addition, we are becoming a GMO dependent country, as our seed stock is depleted. Imagine, in a few years the US government, for some political reason, will impose an embargo on the import of GMO seeds into Russia, then there will be simply nothing to sow. Nobody calculates such consequences. The fact is that GMOs are not reproduced, which means that you will always have to buy them.

"SP": - Tell me, is it possible, for example, to plant normal seeds on a field where, for example, GMO wheat was grown?

“It will be extremely difficult to grow another culture in this field. It is highly likely that such fields will have to be taken out of agricultural use. When I tell my opponents about this, they cynically declare in response that Russia is big, it has a lot of land, and the loss is not great. But no one thinks that in a matter of years, in the pursuit of profit, all of Russia will become unsuitable for normal farming.

"SP": - A number of experts say that not only GMOs are dangerous, but also herbicides and other agricultural insecticides. Is it so?

- Every year in the world die from direct poisoning with pesticides, according to various estimates, from 10 to 20 thousand farmers, more than 3 million people in the world get serious diseases from eating food containing residues of pesticides.

How harmful these pesticides are can be seen on the example of birds, in which, upon contact with pesticides, hormonal disruptions occur that affect calcium metabolism. The eggshells of the laid eggs become so thin that they beat even under slight pressures, for example, when a bird incubates chicks. All the harmful properties of herbicides cannot be listed, suffice it to say that the European Parliament was forced to ban a number of herbicides, including roundup and glufosinate-based pesticides, widely used in Russia.

"SP": - In general, we have the right to healthy food? And the decree 839 does not contradict other laws?

- First, we have a constitutional right to health, these are Articles 41 and 42 of the Basic Law. Secondly, while in Russia there were no walkers from across the ocean who know how to negotiate well, including with our scientists and officials, the State Duma adopted competent laws regarding healthy food. For example, the law “On the quality and safety of food products”, which was adopted in 2000, states that “in the manufacture of baby food and dietary food, it is not allowed to use food raw materials made with the use of feed additives, animal growth stimulants (in including hormonal preparations), certain types of medicines, pesticides, agrochemicals and other substances and compounds hazardous to human health”. In total, we are talking about forty million people who, by law, must be fed healthy food.

"SP": - This is according to the law. But in reality?

- In the composition of the products sold in stores, you can find anything: chemical fertilizers and plant protection products, GMOs, growth hormones, antibiotics, food additives, trans fats. Remember, when GOSTs regulating the quality of food were canceled, three hundred technical regulations were promised in return, but in reality they were no more than thirty.

The Russian laboratory facilities are generally poorly equipped and can only test products for the presence of four pesticides. Meanwhile, there are 450 pesticides in products, which are not controlled in any way in our country, although exceeding their permissible concentration negatively affects our health. Here everything is placed in the hands of manufacturers. Only they are unlikely to suffer from remorse when, for the sake of profit, they overdoses of pesticides.

"SP": - Are there any rough estimates of the negative impact of pesticides, GMOs and other additives on the health of the nation?

- The country is sick. From 30 to 50% of all diseases in the country are associated with malnutrition. First of all, cardiovascular, oncological, obesity, diabetes mellitus, etc. All these diseases belong to the so-called controlled pathologies, in other words, mortality from these diseases can be reduced due to better nutrition. Our neighbors in the ranking of deaths for these reasons Zimbabwe, Chad, Somalia. The losses of the state due to poor nutrition amount to 13 trillion annually. rubles.

"SP": - And what should we do?

- Russian scientists - Bolotov, Ovsinsky, Engelgard, laid the foundations of organic agriculture in Russia. The point is not to harvest at any cost, but to harness the natural benefits of nature for optimal yields and decent income. Russia is a large country, and this could be our competitive advantage, that is, we could grow environmentally friendly products not only for ourselves, but also for export. The same Americans and Europeans would buy clean food for a lot of money. But so far, unfortunately, Western countries, taking advantage of our backwardness, are turning Russia into a raw material appendage in the field of organic agriculture.