Report: Biotechnology May Solve World Hunger Problems

Report: Biotechnology May Solve World Hunger Problems

LONDON--According to a new paper released by an international advisory panel, biotechnology may end world hunger. Transgenic Plants and World Agriculture, a report presented July 10 by a consortium of international scientists in London, argued for putting aside the biotechnology controversy in order to address third world hunger problems.

The report was issued by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences along with the Royal Society of London, the Brazilian, Chinese, Indian and Mexican National Academy of Sciences, and the Third World Academy of Sciences. It stated that without gene modification (GM) technology, it might be impossible to feed the world's poor in the future. It urged private corporations and research institutions to share biotechnology research with scientists and farmers in developing countries.

"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 a member of the committee that issued this report. The committee suggested that an international advisory committee should be formed; most nations already have procedures in place that could serve as a model for this panel.

According to the report, biotechnology could address and benefit four areas of agriculture. They are: enhancing the yield of lesser-known crops on which third-world incomes and food supplies are based; modifying crops to enhance nutritional benefits; reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture; and increasing access to pharmaceuticals and vaccines by producing them within foods.

"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," Alberts said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Dr. Jane Rissler, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists [an anti-GM watchdog group], said, "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." For additional information or a copy of this report, visit www.nationalacademies.org.

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