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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Biotech companies desert international agriculture project
  • Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:11:33 -0700


http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jan/22/gmcrops.climatechange
Biotech companies desert international agriculture project
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday January 22 2008

Biotechnology companies developing genetically modified crops have
withdrawn from a major international project to map out the future of
agriculture, after it failed to back GM as a tool to reduce poverty
and hunger.

The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology
for Development aims to focus attention on the problem of how to feed
the world's growing population, as the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change has done for the challenge of global warming.
Monsanto, Syngenta and BASF resigned after a draft report from the
project highlighted the risks of GM crops and said they could pose
problems for the developing world.

The companies argue the report should say their GM technology could
secure future food supplies because it can boost yields and make
plants more resistant to droughts and higher temperatures.

Bob Watson, director of the project, which is based on the work of
4,000 scientists and experts from around the world, said he was "very
disappointed" by the companies' move.

He said: "It's very unfortunate that they have walked out even before
we agreed the final version. If they can bring evidence forward that
we have not been objective, or that the language is biased, then we
could discuss that."

He also said the resignations would weaken the final report. "Our
goal was to have them included. We wanted a multi stake holder group
that included everyone, that was absolutely essential."

The project was due to agree its final report last week in Nairobi,
but the meeting was postponed because of the unrest in Kenya. It is
now expected to finish in April.

Croplife International, the agriculture industry trade body of which
Monsanto, Syngenta and BASF are members, told the project's leaders
it was unhappy that the views of its members had not been reflected
in the draft report, and that they were pulling out.

Denise Dewar of Croplife International said: "We were concerned with
the direction the draft was taking and that our input was not being
taken appropriately. We were looking to see references to plant
science technology and the potential role it can contribute."

The draft report says there is a "wide range of perspectives on the
environmental, human health and economic risks and benefits of modern
biotechnology, many of which are as yet unknown". It says it is not
clear whether GM crops increase yields and warns that use of the
technology in the developing world could concentrate "ownership of
agricultural resources" in the hands of the companies involved, as
well as causing problems with patents.

In an editorial criticising Croplife International's decision, the
science journal Nature said: "The views outlined in the draft chapter
on biotechnology, although undoubtedly over-cautious and unbalanced,
do not represent the rantings of a fringe minority. The idea that
biotechnology cannot by itself reduce hunger and poverty is
mainstream opinion among agricultural scientists and policy-makers."

Greenpeace, a member of the assessment project, urged the companies
to reconsider. Jan van Aken, GM campaigner with Greenpeace
International, said: "This assessment goes far beyond genetic
engineering, it is about setting solutions for global agriculture and
the world's poor and hungry. It is such a shame to withdraw from such
a good initiative, simply because your business plans do not fit with
sound science and experts voiced a more balanced opinion than yours."






  • [Livingontheland] Biotech companies desert international agriculture project, TradingPostPaul, 01/28/2008

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