Biotech Updates

Policy Implications to Advance Development and Adoption of GM Technology

October 7, 2011

The world needs genetically modified (GM) technology - it "has the weapons to fight poverty, reduce malnutrition and hunger, improve food security, create friendly environments, increase the income of poor farmers and benefit society as a whole." This was the conclusion of a paper Global capture of crop biotechnology in developing world over a decade published in the Journal of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

Author Ademola Adenle of the United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies in Japan provided policy implication towards advancing the development and adoption of GM technology in developing countries. These policy implications are:

  • Provision of functional and appropriate international regulatory capacity
  • Educational policies for the interpretation of biosafety regulation
  • Transfer of technological innovation
  • Investment in technological innovation and agricultural research
  • Increase access to information resources

"All relevant institutions that include individual country government, private and public sector, and international agencies should work together to ensure that everyone benefits from GM technology, particularly in developing countries," Adenle added.

The full article is at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1687157X11000266.