ROME, Italy – Gingerly and uneasily, the United Nations agriculture development agency is tiptoeing into the debate over genetically modified foods by proclaiming their potential value to developing countries.
Senior officials of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization last week insisted it is every country’s right to assess the safety of new developments. But they said biotechnology holds benefits for countries short of food.
“On the science side, there isn’t an indication of a problem,” said John Monyo, director of FAO’s agricultural support systems division and chair of the recently created biotechnology working group.
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But he said every new technology has potential risks and benefits.
“At the end of the day, what we look at is the balance. In the balance, is it beneficial or not? There is nothing to indicate so far that there are obvious problems with these products. But each one must be considered on its own and science must be the judge.”
The secretary of the FAO working group is more emphatic.
Senior agricultural research officer Maria Zimmermann said biotechnology must be a factor to feed a growing world population.
“It will be needed,” she said. “All human ingenuity possible will be needed to feed the population that is growing.”
But she cautioned that this “two-sided sword” has possible negative implications that must be monitored and controlled.
The GM debate lies on delicate ground for the supposedly non-political FAO to walk through. Its members are divided. North America is bullish while the European Union is cautious to the point of blocking imports of most GM seeds.
In February, the organization will launch a website devoted to the issue, with papers posted on topics as diverse as the ethics implications, food production and environmental concerns surrounding GM work. It will moderate an internet debate, hoping to help educate policymakers around the world about the issues and the choices.
