My point was not about whether or not GM crops are the solution to all
our problems, which of course they are not. It was about the effort to
reduce pesticide use and produce more food. Prince Charles is at the
forefront of a "fear of the unknown" hysteria, which leads nowhere. He
is suggesting that the continuation of genetic engineering will result
in the "absolute destruction of everything". Come on, is this based on
any observed events, rational thought, or just plain ignorance of the
facts?

> In his most outspoken intervention on the issue of GM food, the Prince said that multi-national companies were conducting an experiment with nature which had gone "seriously wrong". The Prince also expressed the fear that food would run out because of the damage being wreaked on the earth's soil by scientists' research. He accused firms of conducting a "gigantic experiment with nature and the whole of humanity which has gone seriously wrong. Why else are we facing all these challenges, climate change and everything?". Relying on "gigantic corporations" for food, he said, would result in "absolute disaster".

> "That would be the absolute destruction of everything ... and the classic way of ensuring there is no food in the future," he said. "And if they think its somehow going to work because they are going to have one form of clever genetic engineering after another then again count me out, because that will be guaranteed to cause the biggest disaster environmentally of all time." In the interview the Prince, who has an organic farm on his Highgrove estate, held out the hope of the British agricultural system encouraging more and more family run co-operative farms.

> Scientists claim the repeated attacks on their trials are stifling vital research to evaluate whether GM crops can reduce the cost and environmental impact of farming and whether they will grow better in harsh environments where droughts have devastated harvests.

*  MEANWHILE  *

> Norm Borlaug is still going strong, traveling the world to promote greater attention to, and investment in, rural infrastructure (particularly roads and bridges), agricultural research and education.  Norm believes all these are essential if we are to have the next "Green Revolution," – the one which will lift the remaining one billion people out of the misery of malnutrition and end pandemic poverty. In his speeches he advocates biotechnology and the crucial role he sees for it in feeding and enhancing the nutrition of those still in tenuous food security situations, particularly in Africa.  His dream is that a scientist will discover the gene in the rice plant that prevents it from developing rust disease, and transplant it into wheat and other crops devastated by this scourge.

> Genetically modified crops are controversial, but, never one to back away from a confrontation, Borlaug argues that we must rely on science and research to answer the questions about whether GMO foods pose any environmental risks.  Borlaug points out that with the earth's population increasing exponentially, all these new people can be fed in only one of two ways.  Either we significantly increase yields on the land now in production, or we plow under the remaining rainforests and other habitats for wild animals in order to have more land to farm.  Biotechnology, he stresses, will help preserve the ecosystem while also reducing hunger and malnutrition, by providing these increased yields.  In that way, he once told a group of Iowa high school students, he may be saving more trees as a plant pathologist than he even would have as a forest ranger.

Dr. Norman Borlaug was presented the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his
accomplishments in India and Pakistan and for his role as "Father of
the Green Revolution."

see: Dr. Norman E. Borlaug: 20th Century Lessons for the 21st Century World

http://www.worldfoodprize.org/borlaug/borlaug-history.htm

http://www.normanborlaug.org/

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