Raven: Biosafety Assessments Shouldn't be Burdensome

Biosafety assessments should not be overly politically-driven or a burdensome impedance to delivering biotechnology broadly, says Peter Raven, President Emeritus of Missouri Botanical Garden during his lecture at the 12th International Symposium on Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms in St. Louis, USA, last 17 September 2013. He discussed that given the combined pressures of increasing human population and the continuing use of inappropriate technologies, it is not surprising that organisms are driving towards extinction rapidly. To address these concerns, agriculture must be redesigned to better contribute towards feeding people and at the same time decrease the loss of biodiversity. Raven also stressed that it is no longer acceptable to delay the use of any strategy that is safe and will help us achieve the ability to feed the world's people.

Download a copy of his speech at Transgenic Research: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11248-013-9756-x.