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Against the Grain – GM moves to War on Iraq?
Ripening wheat Washington Photo
by Doug Wilson – Whatever your
views on the Iraq War, whether you think it has more to do with Big Business and
the Black Oil world economy rather than for democratic or humanitarian reasons,
the latest move by the US is a whole ‘bread basin’ too far. Iraq’s
recent history may have been less than splendid, but it is one of the oldest
civilizations in the world and is a ‘bread-basket’ of the Middle East. It is
part of the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia,1 now known by the name
of its southern part, Iraq. There were two kinds of wild wheat, wild einkorn and
wild emmer. Wild emmer (Triticum
dicoccoides) is the genetic origin of wheat that grew in the Middle
East 10,000 years ago. It is the ancestor of most cultivated cereal crops and
still grows there today. Until the end
of the 18th century our wheat (Triticum
aestivum:) grown in the United Kingdom did
not differ perceptibly from that raised in ancient Egypt. The first great
improvement was due to a Scottish farmer, P. Sherrif, who in 1819 improved the
plant and yield through selective cultivation. It’s that recent! Whereas, as
long ago as 7,000 years beer was made from barley in Iraq?2 The
importance and influence of Muslim pharmacy was established in the third –
ninth centuries as a distinct profession from medicine. Iraq was a centre for
the early creation of pharmaceutical formularies such as Aqrabadhin-al-kabir by
Sabur b. Sahl, and Aqrabedhin of Ibn at-Tilmidh of Bagdad.3 Why
mention Arabic medicine you might ask! Well,
‘Food Medicine’ is not only fundamental human sustenance, but it is also
every human’s front-line of defense against all ills, and the Iraqi farmers
look to be in imminent danger of losing their grip on ‘wheat’ the principle
food of mankind. Where
did you think your ‘Pita’ bread came from? Pita or flat bread may be popular
in the western world of late, but it was originally an ‘Arab Food ‘of the
desert nomads bought as flour from the settled farming oases areas, together
with fruits and vegetables, and spices. Their animals provided them with meat
and milk. This simple and portable use of ‘wheat’ enabled Islamic empires
during the Middle Ages to spread and later expand further; no longer were
‘Arab’ foods only that of the desert nomads.4 It is
no accident in the ratio of what is important to Life that the Christian
Lord’s Prayer states:
‘Give us this day, our daily bread’. Last
weekend there was a news release from GRAIN dated 15th October: World
Food Day: Iraqi farmers aren’t celebrating5 – the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) celebrated biodiversity on “World Food Day”
October 16th, 2004. How
might Iraqi farmers lose sovereignty over their food crop? The US is outlawing
‘seed saving’ in occupied Iraq, which is what 97% of Iraqi farmers do - save
seed or buy it at local markets.6 A new report by GRAIN entitled ‘Iraq’s new patent law: a declaration of war against farmers’,
produced in collaboration with Focus on the Global South, (Philippines), has
found that ‘new legislation in Iraq has been carefully put in place by the US
that prevents farmers from saving their seeds and effectively hands over the
seed market to transnational corporations.’7 Thus Iraqi farmers’
biodiversity and the country’s food security are in jeopardy. The
new law in question8 proclaims entry into Iraqi law of patents on
life forms – this first affecting plants and seeds. Shalini Bhutani, (India),
one of the report’s authors said: “The
US has been imposing patents on life around the world through trade deals. In
this case, they invaded the country first, and then imposed their patents. This
is both immoral and unacceptable”. This
is a gateway for Iraqi agriculture to be turned into Agri-industry, making the
farmers dependent upon large corporations for input and seeds. Nothing of past
contributions to the development of important crops like wheat, barley, date and
pulses by Iraqi farmers is considered. When the new law on plant variety
protection (PVP) is put into effect, ‘seed-saving’ will be illegal
and the market will only offer proprietary “PVP-protected” planting material
“invented” by transnational agri-business corporations. The US vision of the
future of agricultural Iraq, or for 97% of it becomes clear: the Iraqi framers
lose their freedoms and their country’s food crops’ sovereignty is
threatened. It is
a recipe for disaster: “If the FAO is celebrating ‘Biodiversity for Food
Security’ this year, it needs to demonstrate some real commitment”, says
Henk Hobbelink of GRAIN, pointing out that the FAO has recently been cosying up
with industry and offering support for genetic engineering.”9
“Most importantly, the FAO must recognize that biodiversity-rich farming and
industry-led agriculture are worlds apart, and that industrial agriculture is
one of the leading causes of the catastrophic decline in agricultural
biodiversity that we have witnessed in recent decades. The FAO cannot hope to
embrace biodiversity while holding industry’s hand”, he added. GM
Watch questions if the US is putting legislation in place in Iraq in preparation
for commercializing GM wheat in order to gain a foothold in Asia?10 COMMENT: We have heard much about the war in Iraq, which according to many is being fought over Black Oil, and the New War on Terrorism. This is a New War of another kind, and it is not being fought openly or on an even playing field in this war-torn country. Whatever the basis for this patent onslaught on Iraqi agriculture, it is woeful world news of which the western world’s public should be made aware. References:
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