Research shows that stories reporting speculative GM solutions to apparently intractable problems are very widely published in all types of newspapers. This means, as Guy Cook, Professor in Language and Education at the Open University, has noted, that stories designed to promote the GM cause, such as 'GM breakthrough - allergy-free peanuts!', turn up even in newspapers which tend to be critical of GM. (Genetically Modifed Language)http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=68&page=
Part of the trick in promoting such stories is the development of a crisis narrative. In the case of Africa, for instance, James Smith, an Africa specialist at the University of Edinburgh, reports that this type of "narrative prevails amongst a whole range of literature supporting biotechnological development in Africa." (Biotech's deceptive fiction)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5823
The biotech solution is then proffered as the only way out of the crisis - nothing else can save us. And even though the claims being made are almost invariably speculative, they tend to be lapped up by the media, as Prof Cook's research shows.
http://www.gmwatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=68&page=1
To date it's rare for any of these speculative GM solutions to get as far as completed field trials. But New Scientist did report on what happened in the case of the massively hyped virus-resistant GM sweet potato:
"Three years of field trials have shown that GM sweet potatoes modified to resist a virus were no less vulnerable than ordinary varieties, and sometimes their yield was lower, according to the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute”¦
"The GM project has cost Monsanto, the World Bank and the US government an estimated $6 million over the past decade. It has been held up worldwide as an example of how GM crops will help revolutionise farming in Africa." (Monsanto's showcase project in Africa fails)
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=2561
What made the New Scientist report still more striking was that it noted something that most journalists and commentators miss - that a non-GM solution was already available:
"Embarrassingly, in Uganda conventional breeding has produced a high-yielding [virus resistant] variety more quickly and more cheaply."
http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=2561
And this is the great unpublished story. Over the past few years, Hartmut Meyer has pulled together for the GENET list a long series of press releases and articles from universities and research bodies around the world reporting non-GM breakthroughs with precisely the kind of problems - drought-resistance, salt-resistance, biofortification etc. - that GM proponents claim only GM will be able to provide the answer to. And note that the list of non-GM success stories given below are reports on GENET from just the current year.
While GM 'miracle' stories win vast amounts of column inches, the non-GM stories generally get minimal if any reporting in the popular media. Without GM's often exaggerated crisis narrative and silver bullet solution, there is, it seems, no story.
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Items from the GENET-news archive (for 2007) at http://www.gene.ch/genet/
*U.S. food scientist develops non-GM process for allergen-free peanuts
SOURCE: EurekAlert, USA
AUTHOR: North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, USA
URL: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-07/ncas-naf072307.php
*Non-GM approach to Striga-resistant cowpeas in Africa
SOURCE: University of Virginia, USA
AUTHOR: Press Release
URL: http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=2334
*Non-GM salt-resistant wheat
SOURCE: Molecular Plant Breeding CRC, Australia
AUTHOR: Press Release
URL: http://www.molecularplantbreeding.com/news/releases/070411.asp
*Gates Foundation supports non-GM b-carotine rich sweet potato in Africa
SOURCE: International Potato Center, Peru
AUTHOR: Press Release
URL: http://www.cipotato.org/pressroom/press_releases_detail.asp?cod=19
*Non-GM virus-resistant cassava for East and Central Africa
SOURCE: Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, USA
AUTHOR: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Nigeria, Press Release
URL: http://www.cgiar.org/newsroom/releases/news.asp?idnews=574
*Non-GM technology reduces aflatoxins in maize in Nigeria
SOURCE: Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, USA
AUTHOR: Story of the Month
URL: http://www.cgiar.org/monthlystory/july_august2007.html
*Iron-fortified non-GM maize cuts anaemia rates inchildren
SOURCE: SciDev.Net, UK
AUTHOR: Ochieng' Ogodo
URL: http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=3651&language=1
*Austro-Indian non-GM research cuts 50% of cotton insecticides, adds 75% profitability
SOURCE: Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy
AUTHOR: Neena Bhandari
URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38073
*Dutch researcher bred non-GM fungi-resistant tomato
SOURCE: Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, The Netherlands
AUTHOR: Press Release
URL: http://www.nwo.nl/nwohome.nsf/pages/NWOA_6ZPA4C_Eng
*Texas-sized sorghum: New non-GM solution for fuel?
SOURCE: Texas A&M University
AUTHOR: Press Release
URL: http://agnews.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/SOIL/Apr3007a.htm
*Non-GM tomatoes made to drink less water
SOURCE: ANSA, Italy
URL: http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2007-04-30_13066586.html
*Non-GM rice with bacterial leaf blight-resistance genes developed
SOURCE: Indian Council of Agricultural Research, India
AUTHOR: Press Release
URL: http://www.icar.org.in/pr/20042007.htm
*Non-GM solution found for cassavaroot-rot devastation in Africa
SOURCE: New Scientist, UK
AUTHOR: Fred Pearce
URL: http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19426002.000-africas-cassava-comeback.html
*U.S. grape researcher breeds non-GM vines resistant to Pierce's Disease
SOURCE: Wine Spectator, USA
AUTHOR: Lynn Alley
URL: http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Features/0,1197,3739,00.html