Grounds for a fight: Farmer protection battle plans take root
By Kathryn Casa and Christian Avard | Vermont Guardian
posted December 2, 2005
It was the day before Thanksgiving, and Vermont Agriculture Secretary Steve Kerr was thinking about food. Not turkey and stuffing, though. Kerr was focused on how genetically modified crops might ease world hunger, and how liberal, well-fed Vermonters have no right to uproot a possible solution while millions starve.
“This debate has been about selfishness,” declared Kerr. “We live in a society that is too well fed. What’s our biggest food problem in this country? It’s obesity. We have the luxury of debating this fraudulent issue while people are starving.”
Kerr is unabashedly enthusiastic about the promise that genetically modified (GM) crops like Monsanto’s “golden rice” — enhanced with vitamin A to combat blindness — hold for the developing world.
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