Biotech's Foes Are Taken Seriously Now

Editors, Progressive Farmer 

Friday, December 08, 2000

Are we in a crisis that will be difficult to overcome, or is the current
flap regarding StarLink corn just a blip on the social scene? It depends on
who you ask.

"The first agricultural products of biotechnology have reached world
markets. These products have received a frosty response in some parts of
the world," Dr. Thomas J. Hoban IV, told members of the Virginia Farm
Bureau recently. Hoban is a sociologist at North Carolina State University.  

"But despite some recent sensational headlines in the press, North American
markets have so far remained calm as foods containing ingredients developed
through biotechnology show up in stores," he says. 

Consumer surveys conducted in the United States, Japan and Europe indicate
consumer perceptions about biotech foods are strongly influenced by the way
the media present biotech information, consumer confidence in government,
and cultural preference, Hoban says. 

The U.S. media is more balanced in its reporting, so the fears are not as
great. That same week that Hoban was reassuring farmers, however, Forbes'
magazine cover story offered another perspective.

"A few years ago, biotech companies dismissed their enemies as Greenpeacers
and Luddites. Not anymore. Now there's a widely supported moratorium on new
imports of genetically modified foods in Europe and a very similar
sentiment running through the middle of America," the article stated. "The
attack on Monsanto seeds, coupled with the recent store shelf panic over
unapproved corn, probably set back crop biotechnology a decade."

Meanwhile, combating world hunger must involve the use of transgenic crops,
a group of scientists says. Seven independent academics from developed and
developing nations reported that genetic modification of crops is crucial
in addressing the world's growing population and shrinking amount of land
that can be used to grow food.

Today, "800 million people don't have access to enough food," said Brian
Heap, vice president of Britain's Royal Society and chairman of the group
that wrote the report on the importance of GM crops in combating world hunger.

The world's population is now 6 billion; it is projected to reach 9.3
billion in 50 years. "Increasing (food) production without increasing land
use will require substantial increases in yields per acre," Heap said.
"This technology needs to be used in the future."