1. Helping farmers in the poorer areas of the world to help themselves

Claim: "The farmers in emerging countries cannot afford the expensive seed product and don't have the capital to undertake genetic modification research".

The facts: It is indeed true that most of the genetically modified crop plants that have been produced so far are destined for the agricultural sectors of the highly capitalized industrial nations. It is also true that the farmers in emerging countries cannot afford these seed products. However, there are a number of different projects supported by non-commercial organizations whose activities are directed towards the staple foods of importance for developing countries. At the Technical University (ETH) Zurich, rice and cassava research projects are being pursued in cooperation with the IRRI (International Rice Research Institute, Philippines) with the aim of securing sustainable nutrition in the developing countries. The results of these activities will not be patented, and seeds from the transgenic plants developed are forwarded to the IRRI free of charge. The plants with the most favorable characteristics are then adopted into the traditional cultivation programme of the IRRI and are - again free of charge - handed out to the local farmers. Scientists from the emerging countries are also involved in these projects, thus providing a contribution towards knowledge transfer and the development of genetic modification methods in these countries, too.
Research capacity for genetic modification in developing countries must be strengthened by start-up aid programmes. These can take the form of development-cooperation schemes. The CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research), for example, maintains 13 research stations in developing countries and in recent years has intensified genetic modification activities with crop plants of importance for local nutrition. Slowly but surely it is becoming apparent that small local companies in developing countries are beginning to become active.
The usual genetic modification procedures for the production of transgenic plants have meanwhile become routine, with the result that the risk of monopolization, caused by the large scale research-and-development, is being broken down.
In India, for example, genetic modification has opened up a market that can be compared with the United States. China is also very active in this sector. It is assumed that there are already a great many genetically modified products being offered there on the domestic market.

2. Dependency of farmers on seed producers

Claim: "Farmers are getting more and more dependent on a few select seed producers because the genetically modified seed is covered by patent protection."

The facts: The patenting of seed products does not mean that farmers automatically have to bear higher costs or become dependent on only a few companies. Patent protection is a weapon used in the battle among competitors in the marketplace. Companies have a chance to commercially exploit their inventions only when they can cut out other competing companies from exploiting their inventions, and it is for this purpose only that inventions are patented.
The subsequent commercialization of the product follows the basic rules of the market: supply and demand. A patent does not constitute an instrument for the establishment of a monopoly.
Patented seed products compete with traditional seed products. The farmer is in all cases free to choose to use the seed product he anticipates will yield the best results. When making his purchase he will thus always weigh up the price-to-performance ratio to decide which is more favourable for his purposes. In this connection, for example, genetically modified, corn-borer-resistant maize seed is indeed more expensive that conventional maize seed.
However, for the farmer who lives in a region where the corn-borer larva is responsible for major economic crop damage (in some areas as much of 20% of the crop is lost), it will pay him to purchase this particular seed, since he can then save a lot of money by being able to dispense with the use of any pesticides against the corn-borer larva.

3. Gene technology imperialism

Claim: "Gentech imperialism in the name of the Zurich Confederate Technical University (ETH): The Bt rice developed by the Zurich ETH was exported to the Philippines against the will of the local population. Over 52 organizations have signed a petition in which they take a resolute stance against research with Bt rice actively pursued by the IRRI (International Rice Research Institute)"

The facts: The claim that the genetically modified rice was imported against the wishes of the local population is hardly borne out by the facts. The import was supported by the elected government. Another fact is that a very small minority of Philippine non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is opposed to the efforts of the IRRI involving genetically modified rice, (52 of the total of 27,000 NGOs registered on the Philippines).
Do 52 NGOs have the right to claim that they represent the opinions of the rice farmers and consumers on the Philippines, not to mention in all developing countries? The IRRI has, by contrast, been contracted by the UNO (United Nations Organization), the FAO (Food and Agricultural Office of the United Nations), and other public organizations, via the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research) to exploit all conceivable opportunities that could contribute towards securing the nutrition requirements of the rice-dependent population. The Zurich ETH is assisting the IRRI in the development of new rice varieties that can secure the nutrition requirements of the poorest social strata; promote a sustainable, environmentally compatible, and more inexpensive production; and exert positive effects on the variety of the species.
Before judgment is passed on this example, the following facts should be taken into account:
Every year the world population grows by 100 million people.

• 95% of these people live in the developing world.

• 50% of these people live on rice.

• In twenty years' time there will be a billion additional consumers of rice.

• These will require an additional 200 million tonnes of rice.

• Every year about 134 million children suffer from severe vitamin-A-deficiency-related disorders, which result in complete blindness in about one million people and in the death of another 1.3 to 2.5 million people.

• 1.2 billion people worldwide suffer from iron-deficiency-related disorders.

• The yellow rice borer destroys 20-25 million tonnes of rice each year.

• Fungi destroy as much as 40 million tonnes of rice each year.

• The Tungro virus destroys 5-10 million tonnes of rice each year.

• Today more than 800 million people worldwide are already suffering from malnutrition.

• If we are to overcome hunger, we will have to more than double the current agricultural production in less than 40 years.

The research endeavours being carried out worldwide include, among other things, the development of pest-, virus-, and fungus-resistant rice grades, the induction of provitamin A, and the enhancement of the iron content.