GM Crops and the Food Security Crisis

“Perhaps a combination of increasing food prices and growing recognition that modern GM crops are no more dangerous than their more conventionally derived precursors will permit other countries to move forward. The unacceptable alternative is an ever-widening food security gap between the developed and the developing nations.” Nina Fedoroff, Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State and to the Administrator of USAID, voiced her concern about developing countries need to benefit from biotechnology if they are to weather the food security crisis in her inaugural lecture to the Jefferson Fellows Distinguished Lecture Series in Washington, DC.

In her lecture on “Seeds of a perfect storm: Genetically modified crops and the global food security crisis”, Fedoroff enumerated the scientific revolution that enabled the development of biotech crops. She noted the extremely rapid adoption of Bt cotton and the eventual commercialization of Bt eggplant and Bt rice which is presently in advanced stages of testing in China, India, and the Philippines. Despite these positive developments however, there is still misinformation from public interest groups. She added  "If the developing world is to benefit from these advances, it is important to moderate the widespread prejudice against them in the developed world."

Read the full transcipt of her lecture at http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/rm/111147.htm#start