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Starving Nation Turns Down Bioengineered Corn

The Washington Post has a story about Zimbabwe turning down shipments of genetically engineered corn, even though the country is experiencing a severe drought and starvation. Zimbabwe is afraid some of the corn will end up planted instead of eaten -- and growing patented corn is a no-no, of course! If the corn is planted even once, it may contaminate all future crops grown in those fields or any fields nearby, leading to huge lawsuits - and then the fields are contaminated, exacerbating the food shortage. So, starve or be bankrupted, and Zimbabwe appears to be choosing, "starve". Tons of ethical issues here, which have hardly been touched upon in the U.S. press.

10 of 798 comments (clear)

  1. Stop pushing GE on other countries by yuri+benjamin · · Score: 2, Flamebait

    I really wish US multinationals would stop pushing GE onto other countries.
    If they wanted to be nice they could have given normal corn.

    --
    You make the mistake of thinking you can educate the fundamental stupidity out of people. You can't.
    1. Re:Stop pushing GE on other countries by chris_mahan · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      You mean like the GPL?

      So Gates=Mugabe?

      Or have I go my analogies crossed again?

      --

      "Piter, too, is dead."

    2. Re:Stop pushing GE on other countries by nomadic · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Take what positions you will about other US foreign policy actions, this just seems gratuitously obnoxious on our part, unless they really are trying to push Monsanto corn on everyone.

      That's what you get for electing a Republican.

  2. Re:Also not fertile... by YuppieScum · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Yah, big deal.

    So the G7/8 governments conspire to destroy a native crop in an African country at the behest of Western-world-agri-business-interests.

    After all, when they get spectacularly in debt they can sell off their surplus population - "every home should have one!"

    --
    This sig left unintentionally blank.
  3. Re:There is an alternative method by bmajik · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    It's too bad you got modded as flamebait.

    It's a point worth considering. And its a low hanging fruit in political discourse, given how oftwen americans are bombarded with "give money to this random charity that spends 90% of your money on administrative fees and sends the other 10% to the dictatorship in power in some random country"

    I'm sick of hearing of africas problems. I'm also sick of people criticizing america when it doesn't bail someone out, and then critcizing america again when we _do_ bail someone out.

    Fuck off, world.

    --
    My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
  4. Typical by Erwos · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Insane racist dictator turns down genetically-engineered corn in starving country because the Europeans won't buy it, and it's the US's fault. I wonder if I'm not the only one who gets tired of everyone blaming all the ills of the world on the US?

    "You evil jerks! Give us $25 million more so we can use the corn!" Hello? The US doesn't owe you anything! Get it from your European friends who refuse to import GE corn! We were nice, we gave you free corn - but

    I think people have lost sight of what "charity" is - it's voluntary. And if we give you $75 million, please don't come running back and act as though it's your birthright to get $100 million. We didn't screw your country up - European colonialists did.

    This is either Europe or Mugabe's fault. It is certainly not the US's.

    -Erwos

    --
    Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
  5. Re:USA is wrong by farooge · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    hehehehe

    the worlds most popular sport

    Blaming US

    get a clue ....

  6. Re:Slashdot misses the point by Malcontent · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    "inner city folks" was a euphomism for "nigger".

    Sometimes they also use the word "urban" to indicate "nigger" as in "Troubled urban youth".

    --

    War is necrophilia.

  7. USA == Iraq? by Moritz+Moeller+-+Her · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    OK, so basically you are equating the USA with Iraq. Both are bullies by your own words.

    Iraq does not have the right to complain about being attacked because it _WAS_ a bully in the past.

    By your logic Panama could launch an attack on the USA any day.

    But obviously American have become so selfcentered in their view of the worls, that you don't notice how many people are starting to hate your foreign policy.

    --
    Moritz
  8. Re:Not too surprisingly, consider who's in charge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    > And another lesson that people could hopefully
    > learn someday is that almost ALL famine is
    > politically based, despite how much certain
    > people want to blame "greedy capitalists who
    > hog all the resources of the world".

    And yet another lesson people could hopefully learn someday is that those same politics are often shaped by those greedy capitalists so that they can "hog all the resources of the world".

    Can anybody here name the number of dictatorial regimes supported or even installed in the name of "stopping communism", or more currently "stopping terrorism"? Many of those regimes also have the nice property of being willing to keep selling America cheap oil.