Re: Re: China and GM food
The development of GM foods in China is a very mixed blessing. Companies such as Monsanto are quite active there and may become more active as other countries place barriers on the development of GM seeds. The present trend towards capitalism in China will only be furthered. The development of herbicide resistant plants for example increases dependence upon pesiticdes developed by companies such as Monsanto. On the other hand there are potentially progressive and useful trends as well. For example genetically engineered rice with higher vitamin A content. Shiva's comments on this are really for the birds. She will go to any length to imagine difficulties with any GM application. She claims for example that people will get too much vitamin A and this great traditionalist wants Asians to change their diet to get vitamin A. Shiva is not even in favor of genetic engineering of drought resistant plants, plants that might be a great aid to subsistence farmers in drought-stricken areas. China is not blessed with any effective opposition NGO's and environmental groups that might help avoid potentially disastrous mistakes. While in Europe the risks of GM seeds are probably over-stressed, in China any risks will likely be ignored. Cheers, Ken Hanly Louis Proyect wrote: Whatever ecological reservations progressive people may have about this, it is entirely understandable that a country like China needs to make a major push to gain relative advantage in the world. This would release vast amounts of labour power and purchasing power for economic transformation of the east Asian region. Chris Burford Economic transformation? You are referring to capitalism in rather neutral terms, it seems. Louis Proyect Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
Re: Re: China and GM food
At 19:48 28/06/00 -0400, you wrote: Whatever ecological reservations progressive people may have about this, it is entirely understandable that a country like China needs to make a major push to gain relative advantage in the world. This would release vast amounts of labour power and purchasing power for economic transformation of the east Asian region. Chris Burford Economic transformation? You are referring to capitalism in rather neutral terms, it seems. Louis Proyect Yes, I think I was using neutral terms. Many people have strong views already about whether China is fully capitalist. The Chinese Party appears determined to try to keep some control of the state and the economy and would no doubt continue to argue that its acceptance of greater economic flexibility is in the ultimate interests of socialism. They argue with more conviction that it is in the ultimate interests of China. What I was referring to in neutral terms was the likelihood of an enormous increase in the technological means of production of agricultural goods in China, the expansion of the market and the release of labour power. This will have enormous geopolitical significance for a multi-polar economic world. Many will see this as increased exploitation of the land and the labour force. However in the struggle against global unequal exchange it is very difficult for any developing country, whether capitalist, socialist or social democrat, to retain a higher proportion of its surplus product for reinvesting locally. I am far from enthusiastic about these reports from China, but they look very significant and something we should watch. Chris Burford London
