11 July 2000

Seven Science Academies Urge Expanded Use of Crop Biotechnology

By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr.
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The U.S. National Academy of Sciences and six foreign academies of science have released a position paper urging the increased development and use of agricultural biotechnology to help resolve problems of hunger and poverty in developing nations.

The national academies also said that with more than 30 million hectares (one hectare equals 2.47 acres) of genetically modified (GM) crops planted worldwide no human health problems have been identified.

"Foods can be produced through the use of GM technology that are more nutritious, stable in storage, and in principle health promoting -- bringing benefits to consumers in both industrialized and developing nations," the position paper said.

The Working Group on Transgenic Plants and World Agriculture prepared the paper and released it July 11 in Washington. The group included research scientists from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the national academies of science of Brazil, China, India and Mexico plus the Royal Society of London and the Third World Academy of Sciences. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit organization of scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research that was created by the U.S. Congress to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters.

Critical to moving forward against widespread hunger and poverty is responsible research, development and implementation of genetic modification (GM) technology for widespread agricultural use, the paper said.

"The obvious concern is that the recent backlash against GM technology will completely overshadow all the promise that the technology offers," said Bruce Alberts, president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and member of the working group. "Our group concluded that the revolution in molecular biology provides the developing world with some important new tools for feeding and caring for its people. It will be critical to use the best science to make wise choices with respect to the application of these technologies."

GM technology along with developments in other areas "should be used to increase the production of main food staples, improve the efficiency of production, reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, and provide access to food for small-scale farmers," the paper said.

Farmers clearly benefit if GM plants resistant to specific pests are developed, but pest resistance must be tailored to the geographic region -- what works in the United States and Canada may be of little value in developing countries, the paper said.

Research has already developed GM plants that have been modified to combat papaya ringspot virus, blight resistant potatoes and rice bacterial leaf blight, the paper said.

Other research has produced GM plants with nutritional enhancement aimed at fighting diseases common to developing nations. For example, newly developed rice strains may be useful in treating Vitamin A deficiency, a problem causing partial or total blindness each year in half a million young children living in the tropics, the paper said.

Iron deficiency is being blunted with the genetic enhancement of new rice strains having iron levels two to four times greater than what can be found in non-GM rice, the paper said.

Additionally, the paper said, expanded use of GM technology in developing nations can help farmers reduce the effects of soil deterioration caused by excessive tillage and serious loss of water content. Crops can be developed that thrive under such conditions requiring less tillage and erosion and that will combat root diseases as well, the paper said.

"Applications in more developed countries show that GM technology offers a useful tool for the introduction of root disease resistance for conditions of reduced tillage," the paper said.

The paper said that governments making decisions regarding the safety of GM crops should focus on the nature of the product, rather than on the method by which it was modified.

"Health hazards from food, and how to reduce them, are an issue in all countries, quite apart from any concerns about GM technology," the paper said.

The academies called for greater public funding of agricultural biotechnology research and development.

"The balance of funding for this kind of research has shifted significantly during the past decade from the public to the private sector, and there has been a corresponding reduction in national, non-commercial agricultural research capacity that needs to be reversed," the paper said.

The paper cites the value of continued public sector research in North America, Australia, Europe, China, India, Brazil, and the World Bank-sponsored Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) system.

Finally, the position paper says that development of a strong capability in the plant sciences "is an absolute priority for all national research programs. This is necessary because only local plant breeding can address local agricultural environments and only local initiatives can appreciate cultural preferences."

The position paper is available on the Internet from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences at http://books.nap.edu/html/transgenic.

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