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Last week, Sir David King, the government’s chief science adviser, touted the “moral case” for GM technology in feeding the global population, which is due to exceed 9 billion by 2050.

The implication is that by refusing to eat GM products we are threatening the poor world with starvation. But this ignores the fact of a surplus of food in a world where yet people go hungry. They go hungry because they cannot afford to buy it. They go hungry as a by-product of global systems that harness natural wealth for the benefit of the few.

Now a handful of private companies are standing poised to seize the food market entire, and in the process make a lot of money. We’re talking about who gets to monopolise the global food supply through commercial GM development.

Private companies gain exclusive rights to the production and distribution of, among other living things, seeds, through patents. What should be commonly available becomes the ‘intellectual property’ of a company, making it illegal for others to save and exchange seed, preventing local economies for the production of food.

The result is inevitably a conflict between global capital and local peasants. The biggest seed corporation, Monsanto, has been linked to 150,000 farmers’ suicides in India. These farmers lost their livelihoods after turning to costly and unreliable hybrids sold by Monsanto.

Where patents are granted for seeds and plants, corporations are suing farmers for seed saving and sharing - for ‘piracy.’ They are hiring private detectives to investigate who has robbed from the rich to give to the poor. They can even sue you if you don’t know how the seeds got onto your land, as was the case when Monsanto took Canadian farmer, Percy Schmeiser, to court.

But there are other defenders of intellectual property and rights. Dr. Vandana Shiva - a world-renowned defender of biodiversity conservation, farmers’ rights, and organic farming - advocates biodiversity and the ‘intellectual rights of communities.’ Genetically modified varieties are after all derived from traditional varieties.

Then there’s the fact most GM crops aren’t grown to feed people at all. The significant majority are grown to feed animals that eventually feed rich world citizens. In the end, it is quite clear who feeds the poor, and who won’t.