Who do you believe? GM companies say that genetically modified foodstuffs are safe and needed to increase yields and feed a booming global population. Environmental campaigners say the opposite. The debate has hotted up again in the light of the recent ‘food crunch’ — a combination of many factors, including climate change, that led to food price hikes and riots. In the face of all this, do we need GM to feed the world?
Those concerned about the onward march of GM food welcomed an authoritative report that came out last year. ‘Agriculture at a Crossroads’, the UN-backed work of around 400 scientists for the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), was endorsed by 58 countries, including the UK. The report refused to back the view that big technological fixes were the answer to world hunger.
IAASTD director Robert Watson, who is the chief scientific advisor to the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said at a recent Soil Association conference that biotechnology may have a role in solving world hunger, but there were significant concerns for consumers and safety must be the top priority. There is enough food to feed the world using existing technologies, he said. The main issues are accessibility and affordability, not productivity.
New criticism of GM has come from a report published in November in the US by the campaigning group the Organic Center. It uses government figures to show how, far from meaning fewer chemicals on the land, pesticide used on genetically engineered crops in the US increased in comparison to non-GM crops, with use accelerating in recent years.
Meanwhile the UK government, anxious about being left behind in the push for GM, is consulting consumers again about their attitudes towards GM foods through the Food Standards Agency. Last time they did so, in 2002, we weren’t keen. But will the mounting pressure on food supplies lead to a change of heart?
IAASTD: www.agassessment.org
The Organic Center: www.organic-center.org
Food Standards Agency: www.food.gov.uk
Feeding the World: are GM crops fit for purpose?: www.feedingtheworldconference.org
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