Psyche, Science, and Society

Capitalism can ruin everything

January 29th, 2006

A recent article ['Suicide Seeds' Could Spell Death of Peasant Agriculture, UN Meeting Told] reports the horrors of genetically modified [GM] “suicide seeds”, designed to produce crops with sterile seeds, thus not allowing reproduction. One result of their proliferation, the article points out, would be the destruction of peasant agriculture.

I sent the article to my biochemist friend, B., who argues convincingly that GM crops hold great promise for increasing productivity and thereby helping feed the poor. B. is often outraged at what he believes is a knee-jerk anti-technology view of the left that ignores the potential in GM while only focusing on horrors, real and imagined.

But B. is no fool, as his response indicates:

This is a perfect example of how capitalism and the profit motive screws everything up. From an environmental viewpoint, the terminator/suicide seeds are probably the smart thing to do, since they pretty much ensure that nothing gets loose and wreaks havoc (e.g., by replacing “natural” indigenous plants). So, in the kind of society I would like to live in, this would probably be the way to go. However, this would require that free replacement seeds be given to the farmers each year, rather than making them buy them all over again. And of course under capitalism they’ll never do this because it would greatly reduce profits. Without free replacement, the sale of terminator seeds is grossly unfair, and I don’t blame the farmers for getting quite upset about it.

Entry Filed under: Environment, Science, Social Issues