GM crops, African farmers and just a little tyranny

A dogmatic and unscientific stance on basic human rights — whether for or against — helps no one, least of all African slaves. We support a 'wait-and-see' stance.

I have made up this quote, but I thank Ian Scoones and Dominic Glover for inspiration:

A dogmatic and unscientific stance on GM crops — whether for or against — helps no one, least of all African farmers.

Scoones and Glover sum up their point of view with this deceptively middle-of-the-road sentence. But their point of view is no middle of the road. They argue that African farmers, unlike their more prosperous counterparts in the U.S., Brazil and Argentina, must not be allowed to choose what crops to grow because GM crops are no panacea - as if non-GM crops were the solution to all human problems from genocidal war to erectile dysfunction.

An informed 'wait-and-see' stance thus makes sense.