TORONTO – United Nations official Sakiko Fukuda-Parr knew she was
opening an emotional debate when she decided last year to proclaim that
biotechnology and genetic modification could be part of the solution to
world hunger.
She didn’t know the half of it.
“We found ourselves in the middle of this very hot debate,” Fukuda-Parr
told a recent international biotechnology conference. “NGOs
(non-governmental organizations) who had been our allies in the war on
poverty now thought we had betrayed them by joining the other side.”
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When she cited the potential for GM crops in the 2001 UN Development
Program report, Fukuda-Parr said she realized the endorsement could
land the UN agency in hot water.
“In the case of transgenic crops, the commercial lobby overstates the
near-term gains to poor people from the genetically modified organisms
it develops,” said the report published in July 2001. “Meanwhile, the
opposing lobby overstates the risk of introducing them and downplays
the risk of worsening nutrition in their absence.”
Canadian reaction proved her point.
Biotech industry leaders said they welcomed the UN stand. But Council
of Canadians representative Nadge Adam said she was flabbergasted.
“We always considered the UNDP a credible organization but we now have
to rethink that,” she said. “It looked like it could have been written
by Monsanto.”
The New York-based UN official shook her head as she recounted the
fallout during an interview at the Toronto mid-June conference.
“I received some very nasty e-mails and telephone calls. And I suppose
by appearing at this industry conference, some will say I am
reaffirming their point.”
But she said the debate has to move beyond the “false choices” of
biotechnology as saviour or biotechnology as scourge.
“My world is a war on poverty and hunger,” she said. “I think we should
be prepared to use whatever tools are available. In many respects, the
debate has been captured by extremists and that has not been helpful.”
At the conference, Fukuda-Parr chaired a session on biotech as an
“important tool” in developing world sustainable development. She said
there are indications the debate about biotech and development is
moving beyond emotional extremes to a practical discussion of
potentials and dangers.
“I really can see a shift,” she said. “I hope so.”
