New York Times / July 11, 2000 / By CAROL KAESUK YOON
Against a backdrop of increasing concern over the safety of genetically modified crops, the National Academy of Sciences took the unusual step today of joining with six foreign academies of science to urge the increased development and use of biotechnology crops to solve problems of hunger and poverty in developing nations.
Describing genetic engineering as an important tool that can provide more nutritious crops and disease-resistant plants, the academies called for increased support from governments as well as industry, including increased research financing for scientists and the freer use of patented gene technologies by farmers in developing nations.
"This was an attempt to give world science a voice," said Dr. Bruce Alberts, president of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States. He said he believed the backlash against genetically modified foods in many developed nations was threatening the use of biotechnology elsewhere.
"It's easy for the United Kingdom and the United States to say we don't need more food, but this is the voice of the developing world which has faced a great deal of starvation in the past," Dr. Alberts said.
The report also called for regulatory systems to be put in place in every country to monitor health risks from genetically modified plants and for research into environmental risks, acknowledging the potential for threats to both food and environmental safety.
The National Academy issued the report with the Royal Society of London, the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Academy of Sciences, the Mexican Academy of Sciences and the Third World Academy of Sciences.
Critics of the technology viewed the report as an attempt by scientists to gain public support for a technology that is becoming increasingly unpopular.
"I suspect that many scientists are quite worried that this technology, which is the star to which they have hitched their wagon, will lose support," said Dr. Jane Rissler, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an antigenetic-engineering watchdog group in Washington. "In fact, it coincides with the industry's own $50 million a year campaign to rally public opinion in this country."
Biotechnology supporters also expressed concerns, questioning the notion that industry should take more responsibility for the development of crops in the developing world.
"Biotechnology companies are not in the business of giving away anything, " said Dr. Val Giddings of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a trade group.
The report notes that the major efforts in genetic engineering of crops have so far been driven by the biotechnology industry and have focused on products that benefit the most important buyers of seed -- farmers in developed nations -- rather than consumers or subsistence farmers in developing countries.
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