Why we need GM foods
The Telegraph of the United Kingdom published an article on the need for GM crops in the UK and Europe. The author cites rising fuel costs, food costs and the fear of a food shortage as reasons why more farmers are beginning to consider GM crops a positive thing. He states that last time GM crops were tested in the UK, GM sugar beets and maize, crops were pulled up and destroyed, if crops are tested again, the UK population may not be so indifferent to such action. Sounds positive to me!
C.S. Prakash
Why we need GM foods
The Telegraph
June 2, 2008
The Government is accused of having lost touch with reality.
No better example exists than agriculture minister Hilary Benn's insistence that domestic food production is unnecessary for food security.
Other countries across the world are protecting their populations from running low; even major food exporters like Argentina are beginning to restrict some exports. American rice rationing is a fact.
World leaders are starting openly to talk about food running out. The sharp commodity price hikes after 10 years of stagnation are causing alarm. China is now seeking to buy farm-land abroad further increasing alarm.
The arguments about genetically modified crops are being resurrected. When the price of a loaf of bread doubles, as it is on the way to doing, the public's pickiness about production methods will weaken.
GM can be seen as crop modification addressing contemporary problems. Take fuel costs and the carbon effects of heavy tractors churning over fields. On a crop of GM sugar-beet or oil seeds weeds are controlled with one 'pass', the tractor using an all-inclusive weed-killer to over-spray the crop which itself remains undamaged. Ordinary sugar-beet varieties require three to four sprayings.
