🇱🇰 Sri Lanka's 2021 GMO Ban
This investigative report uncovers the corruption behind Sri Lanka's 2021 GMO ban and economic collapse. The report exposes International Monetary Fund (IMF) based economic coercion tactics that mirror WikiLeaks revelations about planned trade wars
against GMO opponents.
In 2021, Sri Lanka implemented a GMO ban as part of a 100% organic farming
initiative. The ban, described by some scientific organizations as anti-GMO hysteria
, led to a severe economic crisis.
The Genetic Literacy Project, a prominent voice in the pro-GMO scientific community, characterized the situation as anti-GMO-hysteria
and a reckless embrace of green politics
that drove millions of children into starvation:
When ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa banned GMO in 2021, agricultural production quickly dropped by 40%. When he fled the country due to riots in July, 7 out of 10 families were cutting down on food, and 1.7 million Lankan children risked dying from malnutrition.
(2023) Sri Lanka’s disastrous ‘green’ embrace of anti-GMO hysteria Izvor: Genetic Literacy Project | PDF backup
Similarly, The American Council on Science and Health attributed the economic disaster directly to the GMO ban:
Sri Lanka ran an evil experiment on its citizens last year. Under the sway of organic-food and anti-GMO activists, the government banned imports of synthetic pesticides and enforced a transition of the country to all-organic agriculture, leaving the vast majority of farmers without access to the vital tools they use to grow the crops their country depends on.
(2022) Anti-GMO Groups Deflect Blame for Sri Lanka's Economic Disaster Izvor: The American Council on Science and Health | PDF backup
Suspicious Circumstances
While these scientific organizations blame anti-GMO hysteria
for Sri Lanka's crisis, our investigation uncovered several suspicious circumstances that indicate corruption to enforce GMO.
Timing: The experiment was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Sri Lanka's tourism-dependent economy was already severely impacted.
Import restrictions: The government banned the import of raw materials, demanding that farmers produce them domestically. This led to significant shortages.
Lack of preparation: Farmers, accustomed to chemical fertilizers, were suddenly forced to shift to organic methods without adequate training or support.
Price increases: The transition period to organic farming typically results in lower yields. This, combined with pandemic-related economic pressures, led to skyrocketing prices for goods.
GMO Imports During the Ban
Despite the supposed GMO ban, a U.S. Department of Agriculture report reveals that Sri Lanka imported $179 million worth of GMO food in 2021 and was already cultivating GMO food awaiting legislation for planned commercialization and export to the US in 2023.
The United States and Sri Lanka have a mutually beneficial agricultural trade relationship. The import of Genetic Engineered (GE) crops and animals was worth $179 million in 2021. However, Sri Lanka does not yet export GMO products to the United States. A draft legal framework for Biosecurity legislation for the enactment of the National Biosecurity Act is with the Legal Draftsman's Department and is awaiting the approval of the Attorney General and the Cabinet.
(2023) US report confirms GMO food production in Sri Lanka Izvor: AgricultureInformation.lk | Document of United States Department of Agriculture
Presidential Misconduct
During the GMO ban, then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa engaged in reckless spending for personal gain. According to a Sri Lankan insider:
For political gain they sprinkled subsidies to various departments. That has become a major cause of empty coffers. At present, the government has no money even to pay the salaries of the government employees.
(2023) Is the organic farming policy the cause of Sri Lanka's economic crisis? What is the truth? Izvor: விகடன் | PDF backup
This unethical behavior seems at odds with the purported ethical motivations behind the organic farming initiative.
IMF Bailout and Economic Coercion Tactics
After fleeing the country due to riots, Rajapaksa claimed that an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout was the only option
to recover from the economic collapse that he apparently consciously had caused.
The irony of ironies. An institution which across the globe has been acknowledged as anti-people, elitist and responsible for increasing poverty, misery and destitution across dozens of countries, is now being seen as the only saviour for the people in 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka.
(2023) 'Only option to emerge from crisis is to seek the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)' Sri Lanka President said on economic collapse. Izvor: 🇮🇳 Mint
The IMF has a history of enforcing GMO through economic coercion tactics.
The money that the IMF gives is exchanged for the enforcement of policies such as for example the enactment of a pending legal framework for biosafety that would enable commercialization of GMO in Sri Lanka by 2023 (chapter …^). The IMF bailout is not intended as a helping hand but rather as an economic coercion opportunity to enforce policies.
A failed organic farming experiment would help to enforce GMO culturally while the IMF bailout opportunity would enable to enforce GMO legally. The timing would have been precisely right.
A 2012 case in Hungary saw the country's leadership forced to throw out the IMF alongside GMO in order to maintain its GMO ban.
Hungary's Prime Minister Victor Orbán had thrown GMO giant Monsanto out of the country, going as far as to plow under 1000 acres of land. It's remarkably hard to find sources on this, ironically. It’s even harder, even more ironically, to find anything that mentions the Wikileaks report on the connections between the US government and the GMO industry and the GMO related sanctions imposed on Hungary through the IMF.
(2012) 🇭🇺 Hungary Throws Out GMO And the IMF Izvor: The Automatic Earth
WikiLeaks revealed U.S. diplomatic cables that showed plans for military-style trade wars to enforce GMO. The cables showed that US diplomats were working directly for GM companies such as Monsanto and Bayer and that they actively pursued economic coercion strategies to enforce GMO.
The plans revealed that opponents of GMO were to be systematically punished with economic retaliation
.
Moving to retaliation will make clear that opposing GMO has real costs and could help strengthen pro-biotech voices.
(2012) US to Start
Trade Warswith Nations Opposed to GMO Izvor: Natural Society | PDF backup
Conclusion
The facts surrounding Sri Lanka's GMO ban and subsequent economic crisis paint a picture that goes beyond simple anti-GMO hysteria
.
Before the disaster, Indian newspaper The Hindu published an article titled Sowing the seeds of a disaster
that reveals that the abrupt enforcement of 100% organic farming was deemed to fail from the start.
The massive GMO imports during the supposed ban, the planned legislation for commercialization and export of GMO to the US by 2023 coniciding with the crisis, the president's emptying of the state coffers for personal gain to such an extent that government employees could not be paid anymore while subsequently claiming that an IMF bailout (with GMO enforcement policies) is the only option
, and the suspicious circumstances of the enforced organic farming initiative that rather appeared to be intended to cause failure than to successfully transition to 100% organic farming, are all indicative of corruption to enforce GMO in Sri Lanka.
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