Biotech Updates

Pontifical Academy President Says GMOs are Advancing Step to Evolution

October 24, 2012

The president of Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Catholic Church's advisory body told the Synod of Bishops for the new evangelization that genetically-modified food represents a step forward in evolution. Microbiologist Werner Abel of the University of Basel (Switzerland) and President of the Pontifical Academy said that because of the recent advances in genomics, proteomics and metabolomics, it has become possible to direct biological evolution in order to better fulfill man's needs for a healthy nutrition as a contribution to medically relevant improvements.

He added that the recently established methods of preparing transgenic organisms follow natural laws of biological evolution and bear no risks anchored in the methodology of genetic engineering and its beneficial prospects for improving widely used nutritional crops can be expected to alleviate the existing malnutrition and hunger in the developing world.

See the original article http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=15909.