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Debate on genetically modified crops: can and should they be grown to prevent a global food crisis?


The Times (June 20, 2013) reports that the British Environment Secretary will make a case to the European Union to lift the restrictions on genetically modified (GM) crops as a matter of “morality.”
The Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, spoke at the Rothamsted Research Institute in Hertfordshire, indicating that the government should reassure the public that GM crops were “safe, proven, and beneficial innovation.” Paterson maintained that a failure to capitalize on technology to produce GM crops was “turning a blind eye on a global food crisis.”


GM crops can be modified to grow faster, be more pest and weed resistant, be weather-resistant, and be enriched with added nutrients. These factors would present a case for the growth or supply of GM foods to areas of drought and malnutrition to prevent death and severe stunting in children.


Since 1996 there has been a 100-fold increase in their use. Commercial sale of GM foods began in 1994 after an antibiotic-resistant tobacco plant was cultivated in 1983 in America. The first GM crops for sale were tomatoes. In 2000, with the creation of “golden rice,” scientists genetically modified food to increase its nutrient value. By 2013 about 85% of corn, 90% of soybeans, and 88% of cotton produced in American are genetically modified. However less than 0.1% of global GM cultivation occurred in the European Union. In the EU, GM crops are restricted to a case-by-case basis, with only two crops (a wheat and a potato variety) have been approved for commercial harvesting in Europe.


Over the years, more scientists and farmers were accepting GM technologies and food production techniques. In a poll of 600 British farmers, 61% said they would plant GM seeds. A survey by YouGov in June 2013 found that 21% of the British population supported the GM technologies, 35% opposed it, and the rest weren’t sure.


Agriculturalists in America estimate that in the next 50 years the world could release an area 2.5 times the size of France for GM cultivation. The Environment Secretary is therefore calling for the EU to ease restrictions on GM cultivation in favour of the gains for society and the environment.


Those who oppose it maintain that it leads to intensive farming practices and that it will not deliver secure food supplies for the world’s growing population. The head of policy, research and science at Friends of the Earth opposes GM cultivation on the grounds that there are no “miracle” crops that would tackle the challenges agriculture faces, such as soil degradation and water shortages.


The debate continues.
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