GM Foods are the Problem, Not the Solution, Activists Say

“More than 3,000 delegates from 147 countries met for the U.N. conference on biosafety in Bonn, Germany and debated the tradeoffs associated with using genetically modified crops. . . . Feeding the debate, scientists, farmers, and environmental activists in many countries warn that genetically modified agriculture presents a risk, and not a contribution, to food production.”
“In France, organic farmers are complaining that genetically modified plants are poisoning their plantations. . . . Jean-Pierre Margan, a producer of organic wine in the Provence in the south said the contamination of organic farms is a constant problem.” “Particles of GMOs are transported by wind and water and can be carried very far away and contaminate your plantation, even if you have worked hard to protect it from every risk,” he said.
“Several scientists and environmental activists say that apart from the health concerns, GMOs are not a solution for food scarcity, either.” “Most of the genetic modifications introduced in crops aim at making them resistant to pests or weed killing but not to increase yields,” said Hans-Joerg Jacobsen, a biologist at the University of Hanover in Germany. Jacobsen said “modern cultures, free of any genetic modification, have higher yields than genetically modified seeds.” The idea that GM agriculture could help feed the world is part of the propaganda that the biochemical industry has used for years, but it is false,” said Arnaud Apoteker, who heads the campaign against GMOs for the French branch of the environmental organization Greenpeace. Some representatives of the biochemical industry have acknowledged this fact. “Genetically modified agriculture will not solve the world’s hunger problem,” Hans Kast, managing director of the plant science branch of the chemical giant BASF, told the German newspaper Die Sueddeutsche Zeitung.