The Issue Behind the Issue.

• Author: Fitz, Don
• Position: First Grassroots Gathering on Biodevastation: Genetic Engineering - Brief Article

[S/R 19 is a continuation of S/R 18. Both are based on information presented at the "First Grassroots Gathering on Biodevastation. Genetic Engineering," July 17-19, 1998 in St. Louis, Missouri. S/R 18 included sections on "Introduction to Biotechnology," "Artificial Foods & Human Health," "Ecological Balance & Biological Integrity," and "Control of Information." The introduction below is adapted from opening comments by the author.]

It is no accident that the First Grassroots Gathering on Biodevastation is called a "gathering" and not a "conference." The word reflects the Green idea that the root of environmental destruction is domination--both the domination of people by people and the domination of nature by people.

A broad environmental perspective cannot limit itself to addressing the domination of nature without addressing underlying social roots of domination. A narrow view would critique specific types of environmental destruction without understanding that new forms of devastation arise faster than older ones can be solved.

We may succeed in having asbestos removed from production, only to watch corporations introduce nuclear power. We may succeed in reducing lead emissions but watch explosions in the production of organochlorines. Long before we make headway in removing chlorine from production, society's corporate masters are threatening the world's ecosystems with genetically engineered organisms.

Environmentalists must address who is making these decisions and how they exclude the overwhelming majority of society from the decision-making process. The issue of genetic engineering is first and foremost an issue of multinational corporations' attempting to reshape society's relationship with nature by recasting those sectors of the economy the concern our most basic biological needs: food and health. The most obvious manifestations of this effort are their willingness to contaminate the food supply, destroy ecosystems...