Reflections while visiting Malawi

Here I am visiting Malawi, one of the poorest countries in Africa, and wondering how come we cannot do more with what we have in Honduras. Malawi is a country where the Gross Domestic Product per Capita is $288 per year (Honduras is $1,830), life expectancy is 54 years total (Honduras is 72 years), and has incredible problems with HIV/AID, malnutrition, malaria and other diseases.

Although one can argue that comparing our own situation in Honduras with a poorer country such as Malawi, can be seen as an application of the saying "mal de muchos, consuelo de tontos", in the end we have advanced more that what we give ourselves credit. I think if we truly put our heads together to solve our problems we can get somewhere. This is what I want to pursue, a true independent spirit that does not rely on anybody but our own, and on fair and profitable exchanges and trade with other nations.

Why don't you shut up Hugo?

I'm not talking about Hugo Chavez, who by the way also needs to shut up, I am talking about the current US Ambassador Mr. Hugo Llorens who needs to re-learn his diplomatic etiquette in criticizing a country in which he is an Ambassador. Mr. Hugo, unfortunately keeps on sticking his nose publicly in our business where he is not wanted. In a meeting of Mayors and some Congresspersons, Mr. Hugo Llorens, started a tirade of how the constitutional rupture in Honduras represented a going backwards type event. No Mr. Llorens, we use our constitution to get rid of a Hugo Chavez wannabe, a tyrant in the making, who keeps messing with Honduras. See the full report of Mr. Llorens "dissertation" in an article of Diario Tiempo HERE

Bloggin' from Malawi and South Africa for the next 10 days or so

Friends,

 I will be leaving for a business trip to Malawi with a small stop in South Africa. Malawi is a very poor country in Southern Africa, bordered by Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia. 

I will be starting a project examining the potential introduction of a genetically modified cotton that expresses a protein that is toxic to a group of insects that cause damage in cotton production. The protein, derived from a soil bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis, does not cause any impact on humans or animals.

The later has been quite demonstrated by food safety reviews done by USDA, FDA and EPA, as well as, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and other regulatory agencies around the world. The use of this crop, Bt cotton, can and does signficantly reduce (nasty) pesticide applications for controlling the specific worms (pink bollworm and other lepidopteran insects).

The reason I am going into this much detail about this technology is the report by the President of Bolivia, Mr. Evo Morales, that transgenic crops cause homosexuality and hair loss in humans. Besides being a ridiculous statement as it completely disregards safety studies around the world, the fact that homosexuality is not a "disease" and that it is ilogical and inaccurate information - no transgenic crop expresses hormones and even if this were true, what would be the impact of  "feminization" hormones on women?...see the absurd argument in itself- but that this is just one sample of a well funded campaign to attack not only transgenics or biotechnology, but technology and innovation in general. If you want a recipe for condemning humanity to living in the stone age, just curtail human inventiveness and see what happens....


Will try to keep u p with my blog these days in Malawi...