CALGARY — Patrick Moore likes the colour green.
The founding member of Greenpeace has rejected some of Greenpeace’s more radical policies and formed Greenspirit Strategies, a Vancouver-based group that he describes as more science-based and logical.
Speaking at the Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference on Sept. 24, Moore talked about his disagreement in particular with the Greenpeace stand against biotechnology and genetically modified organisms.
“The campaign against GM is still waged fiercely by Greenpeace and their allies.”
He said such extremist groups tend to be anti-science, anti-technology, anti-trade and anti-globalization.
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Further, they tend to be anti-business and paint all corporations as inherently greedy and corrupt, Moore said.
However, he said he believes biotechnology can furnish solutions to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels and address the problem of malnutrition and hunger in less developed countries.
Moore said the campaign against GM has blunted the uptake of biotechnology in some countries. By borrowing terms from “scary movies” like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Terminator and Frankenstein, the anti-GM movement has gained traction.
However, he cited a number of instances, in India and Brazil, where farmers who want access to GM technology have successfully lobbied their governments. And in California, farmers spurned activists’ attempts at the state level to ban GM crops in some counties.
Moore saved his most scornful assessment of Greenpeace activities for the group’s stand against Golden Rice, a variety of grain with higher Vitamin A content and thus potential to reduce blindness in children in less developed countries where rice is a diet staple.
“‘Dying children and cancer clusters’ is what Greenpeace said GM corn would cause in the Philippines,” said Moore. Yet he estimated the technology could prevent blindness in half a million children each year.
Moore ended his talk with a challenge to industry to get behind the development and introduction of Golden Rice.
The ABIC conference continues through Wednesday.
