Cancelling GMO bill might have saved us from disaster
Play
Re: “Cabinet shelves draft legislation on GMOs”, National, December 16.
The Prayut Chan-o-cha administration was wise to withdraw the controversial draft bill on genetically modified organisms.
Had the government refused to do so, Prayut would not have been remembered fondly by future generations of Thais.
That the government forged the draft at all was suprising. Had the bill been passed by the National Legislative Assembly, it could have led to irreparable devastation of our natural resources.
GMO is now one of the country’s most controversial and divisive issues. Its promoters wanted the bill in order to boost exports and benefit the business sector, but this would have come at the expense of the nation’s agricultural wealth, which is the mainstay of the rural poor’s income.
A badly drafted GMO bill would only see the the rich become richer and the poor poorer.
Let’s leave the issue of GMO for an elected government to decide.
Vint Chavala
