Help the Poor & Hungry and Stop the 'Patenting of Life'
Published in The Universe
(February 09, 2003)
DEATH by starvation is a horrible and painful death and donations to famine relief is the immediate human response to an imminent crisis. It is necessary and we should give all we can afford to reliable charities. But it is not the real solution to world hunger.
We have to look at the causes and eradicate them if we are to solve the problem for the future. This means we need to understand the global economic policies and practices of the industrial nations protecting their gigantic corporations.
These practices are in many ways responsible for much human suffering. The destruction of the rain forests, the efforts by giant corporations to control the world of food supply by patenting varieties of food crops and the destruction of the ozone layer by industrial gases. Never have so many died of hunger in a world so full of warehouses bursting wth surplus food.
There is no shortage of food, just a shortage of sharing. World hunger and starvation is not simply the result of drought, a purely isolated natural phenomena. It is aggravated by human greed and irresponsibility. The insatiable demand of rich countries for tropical hardwoods is behind the phenomenal bribes offered to corrupt government officials that allow unsustainable logging and the export of trees.
Climate change is causing extremes in weather conditions that disrupt worldwide food production. Eminent scientists have clearly shown that such extremes are the result of the depletion of the ozone layer caused by industrial gases being pumped into the atmosphere, but the Kyoto agreement that followed has been rejected by the USA. Famine in Africa can be attributed to these climatic changes, and millions are dying from HIV-related diseases, leaving fewer people to till the land. Low-cost drugs could save millions of lives and are available from India, Thailand and Brazil but pharmaceutical companies that hold the patent on these drugs will not allow the copyright to be suspended. The Bush White House stepped in to block an agreement that would allow such a deal, and the dead continue to pile up.
We must work together to change this situation by lobbying governments to implement the Kyoto agreement, oppose the patenting of foodcrops and life forms and protect the environment. We must act as Jesus would, He who blessed the downtrodden, the hungry and the poor, and promised that they will be filled with good things. We are the ones who must deliver on that promise.
There is a great book for beginners explaining the patenting of life and how we can prevent it. It costs £3 and can be obtained at the Faith and Justice Office, St. Joseph’s Watford Way, Hendon, London NW4 4TY. Telephone: 020 8202 2555; E-mail: jpicss@compuserve.com.
