Letter to the Editor: World Hunger Day

Dear Editor,
What does World Hunger Day (May 28, 2012) and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have in common? This is why I’m writing you today, and to give you some reasons as to why genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not the answer to world hunger and that going with an organic locally grown plant-based diet is the answer.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation purchased 500,000 shares of Monsanto in 2010 worth a total of $23 billion USD. Monsanto has a proven track record of selling sterile seeds at excessive costs to poor farmers claiming higher yields of crops, and when the crops don’t produce; the farmer often commits suicide. In fact, thousands of farmers and their families have this as their tragic story. Corn, Soy Beans, Canola and Cotton are the top four GMO seeds that get sold to farmers here in the US and developing nations. Bill Gates has been quoted “GMOs are the solution to world hunger.”

He said this in January of this year, when in 2008 there was a study conducted by a team of 900 scientists and researchers from the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) finding that GMOs are not the answer to solving the world hunger issue, to put it simply. According to the World Food Programme (WPF):

There are 1.02 billion undernourished people in the world today. That means 1 in 6 people don’t get enough to eat. And, while there are people in the world like Allan Savory and Kenyan Professor Mary Abukutsa-Onyango promoting the indigenous food revolution and are dedicated to the reintroduction of 100 species of the lost 200 indigenous vegetables being cultivated by an organic process including seed production and processing in Kenya, we can make a difference here in our backyards.

Instead of just making that donation to the food bank, look to cutting meat out for one day (cattle consume 16 times the amount of grain then they produce in meat), look at eating local from the Farmers Markets, look for the organic products and look for the fair trade produce. When we take a stand with the Farmers here and internationally, we prove that our health, family and environment are all the same.

Your Reader,
JM Fortune