Seed Incorporated

In: Perspectives on global development and technology: pgdt, Band 19, Heft 1-2, S. 166-178

Abstract

This study investigates corporate dominance of the world's food supply. Multinational corporations have a monopoly control over seeds and the accompanying pesticides, which is leading to the disappearance of small farms and traditional methods of farming. Due to strict patent rights, local producers are forced to buy seeds that can only be used once, thereby fostering a feudalistic relationship of perpetual dependence. Advancements in DNA technology have enabled corporate scientists to splice one trait from one species and inject it in an altogether different organism. This process is referred to as genetic modification or transgenic engineering. The difference between enhanced traits from genetic modification (GM) as compared to conventional methods is that in the case of GM the genes are transferred without sexual crossing. They are injected in a targeted manner in a laboratory using sophisticated molecular technology. Transgenic seeds promise to increase output and are drought and pest resistant. But these seeds create monocultures in the food system as varieties of different types of crops are lost and age-old customs destroyed.