Washington, DC [CFNP press release]- The Center for Food and Nutrition Policy of Georgetown University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Food Research Institute hosted 125 scientists and experts in biotechnology from academia, industry, government and public advocacy around the world at a conference entitled "Environmental Benefits and Sustainable Agriculture Through Biotechnology." The seminar which took place November 10–11, 1999, addressed varied issues in agricultural biotechnology, but the recent controversy over genetically modified seeds was a topic that dominated many of the discussions and subsequent question and answer sessions. [The executive summary of the conference, prepared by Ellin Doyle, Ph.D., of the Food Research Institute, is available in Adobe Acrobat format.]
Many of the panelists indicated that the concerns reported in the popular media and expressed by the public were the result of a lack of familiarity with the careful scientific methods used to assess the safety of genetically modified food products. Scientists were uniformly supportive of the need for more safety research, but were equally confident that the current scientific methods and safeguards in agricultural biotechnology were proper and that foods with GM ingredients were safe. "The scientific community needs to listen to the concerns of the public, evaluate the legitimacy of the concerns and conduct experiments to validate the safety of the foods involved," said Dr. Roger Beachy of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. "Lack of knowledge exposes consumers to false information and fear tactics by those who don't want the technology employed," he added. Other scientists were concerned by what they called a sustained multi- million dollar media campaign by some "green groups" seeking to discredit biotechnology. "Reasonable people believe reasonable experiments should take place so reasonable conclusions can be made. Unreasonable people want to draw unreasonable conclusions now." said Dr. Derek Burke, member of the Suffield Council on Bio-Ethics. Panelists urged the industry and academics to begin an ongoing effort to educate consumers about the benefits and the inherent safety of foods containing GM ingredients and the science behind biotechnology.
Among the greatest advocates of GM foods were scientists and experts
involved in food and hunger issues in the developing world. Dr. Robert
Thompson, a Senior Advisor with the World Bank on rural development strategies
stated there would be a population increase from the current 6 billion
to nearly 9 billion over the next five decades. This would create the need
to double the amount of food production to stave-off mass starvation in
many developing nations. Biotechnology is "desperately needed in the developing
world" to avoid converting pristine areas into farms, to keep from increasing
the use of chemical pesticides and thereby causing "the massive destruction
of forests and bio-diverse wildlife habitats," said Thompson.