Plant Scientists: GM Technology to Help Meet Food Supply Demands

More than 1,000 scientists from nonprofit, corporate, academic, and private institutions say public doubts about genetically modified (GM) food crops are hindering the next Green Revolution. In a recent petition, six researchers from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and Carnegie Institution for Science in the US and Laboratorio Nacional de Genómica para la Biodiversidad in Mexico explain their support of science-based criteria in guiding the safe and effective use of GM technology.

The petition, which is the first organized by individual scientists supporting GM technology has yielded more than 1,600 signatures from plant science experts supporting the American Society of Plant Biologists' (ASPB) position statement on GM crops, which states that they are "an effective tool for advancing food security and reducing the negative environmental impacts of agriculture."

The signatories of the petition represent a knowledgeable consortium of scientists, who have published more than 17,600 scientific papers on subjects including plant breeding, the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying plant growth and development, and plant responses to environmental stresses. The petitioners' goal is to demonstrate to the public that there is consensus within their scientific community about the safety and efficacy of using genetic modification technology in agriculture.

More details are available at the website of the Carnegie Institution for Science. The ASPB position statement and the petition are available here.