I noted the other day that the Bush administration had hidden away in their $700 million "aid" package to help the hungry a requirement to shamelessly promote the use of GM organisms. Today's NY Times has a story about the severe cutbacks in basic crop research worldwide that are preventing the development of resistant but non-GM crops. Noted in the article is that fact that the US is also planning on cutting back "by as much as 75 percent, its $59.5 million annual support for a global research network that focuses on improving crops vital to agriculture in poor countries". So we are willing to give away $700 million, largely to American agri-business companies who grow the crops that we give away "in kind", but are not willing to fund the basic but non-commercial research that will assist many countries become self-sustaining.
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