‘Need to bridge the information gap on GM crops’

Modern wheat, maize, and potatoes would probably fail the human consumption tests imposed upon genetically modified crops, says UCD professor of crop science Jimmy Burke.

He said food scientists needed to bridge the information gap between the benefits of developing GM crops and widespread public scepticism.

“Many of the crops that we have today never existed in their present form at all and were the result of 10,000 years of selection and classical plant breeding. It is ironic that the current regulatory approvals process is so stringent that crops like wheat, potatoes and tomatoes that we all take for granted would be unlikely to get through the current GMO approvals process.

“Nevertheless, many consumers are still sceptical about GM crops and they should not be he said as their record was very safe and consumers should not be at all concerned.”

He was speaking at a UCD conference on GM crops.

“The big multinational food companies must take some responsibility for the information vacuum on GM foods that exists between scientists and the public. When GM foods came in initially, the big companies were happy with the science, which they could see was reliable and verifiable. For them, there was no problem. But if the consumer has doubts, then there is a problem.

“The consumer has big doubts about GM foods, so there is a problem. The reaction to GM has been irrational. That resistance needs to be changed with education.

“There are hundreds of cases of food poisoning in Ireland every year, yet there has never been even one single case of a problem either for humans, animals or the environment with GM foods since they became popular in the US, Argentina, Brazil and China.”

Both Prof Burke and Jack Bobo, a special adviser to Hilary Clinton on biotechnology and global trade issues, told the UCD gathering that they didn’t see GM food as the sole answer to soaring world demand, but that it would be one of the critical tools in combating world hunger.

The global population is set to reach 11bn by 2050. Such growth would add 75m a year to the population — like adding an extra Germany every year for the next 40 years.

“How are we going to feed these people and feed the 1bn people who are not getting enough today?” asked Mr Bobo.

Prof Burke noted that today’s wheat was developed from a cross between a variety of long grasses. Potatoes were developed from crosses between wild relatives, while maize only came into being in the 1700s, the offspring of a plant called tiosente.

“These are three of the world’s biggest crops, all developed from various wild relatives. Today’s crops bare no relation to the original plant. The same with carrots, broccoli and sprouts.

“In reality, GM technology is just a continuation of classical plant breeding. There are 160m hectares of GM crops in the world and not a single case of a problem for people or the environment.”

Mr Bobo cautioned that Ireland, and other countries, were at risk of losing pace with food science advances. He said mankind would have to produce a volume of food in the next 40 years equivalent to its entire output of the past 10,000 years.

“Environmentally, farming is one of the most damaging activities, accounting for a large share of greenhouse gas emissions, and with about 40% of the Earth’s surface given over to agriculture it is now time to stop adding more,” he said.

“We owe it to our children and future generations to discover ways to get more food from the land already in use, without having to scale up inputs such as water, nutrients and energy.

“Science was the solution not the enemy we needed to boost yields and minimise our footprint on the Earth’s valuable resources, and in this regard biotechnology could help. Biotechnology and more specifically GM crops are not the only answer, it is just one of many technologies that can be used to develop agriculture and food production,” Mr Bobo said.

Prof Burke said that GM technology had revolutionised the study of biology, including medicine and agriculture. It has led to great benefits for mankind, in medicine, food and agriculture, and in forensics.

“This new technology is an entirely logical and rational extension of plant breeding that was started by the first farmers. These farmers, the inventors of agriculture and the source of civilisation, began to develop new varieties of plants 10,000 years ago by selection and hybridisation, using trial and error.”