'Embrace GM or Be Left Behind' ; Don't Be Prejudiced Against Technology, Says Professor
A well respected professor in Wales is speaking out in favor of biotechnology. Professor Wynne Jones of Harper Adams University College spoke to attendees of the Royal Welsh Show recently, warning them if farmers did not embrace GM technology they would not be able to compete with the rest of the world. Read more about what he said below.
C.S. Prakash
'Embrace GM or Be Left Behind' ; Don't Be Prejudiced Against Technology, Says Professor
Red Orbit
July 22, 2008
WALES was urged yesterday to put aside its "prejudice" against genetically modified food as world food and fuel prices increase.
A respected academic warned at the Royal Welsh Show that farmers would be disadvantaged if Wales did not embrace GM technology.
But opponents claimed GM crops would not necessarily be cheaper or address farming's main challenge - reducing energy consumption.
Professor Wynne Jones, of Harper Adams University College, Shropshire, praised the Welsh Assembly Government for investing in the new Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth.
He also acknowledged widespread consumer resistance in Europe to GM food, but said the public needed to be educated about the technology.
"We must show leadership, and we must encourage young people to take up science," he said. "It's up to us as educationalists and scientists to inform the public and have a debate based on fact and not heated emotions.
