CropGen
Tuesday, 14th March, 2000GM
Crops
(Letter to the Editor of The Times)
To
the editor:Sir. Richard Strange (letter, March 3; see also letter, March 10) is right to point out that the term "GM" is misleading since plants genetically modify themselves naturally at every generation. The expression "biotech crops" is starting to gain some currency but playing with the words will not be enough to restore balance to the debate.
At the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development conference on GM foods at the end of last month Sir John Krebs, the chairman, asked the 400 delegates if they knew of any published data which indicated a human health risk. The hall fell silent.
Professor ZhangLiang Chen of Beijing University presented the conference with compelling research, shortly to be published, which showed no effect on the health of animals fed on a variety of GM foods.
Despite this, most attention was focused on comments from the Prime Minister (report, February 28), which needlessly prompted fresh fears.
It is not surprising that most people remain mystified by the whole thing. CropGen (www.cropgen.org), funded by but operating independently from the crop biotechnology industry, has been established to provide information to anyone who wants to hear the facts about GM crops.
Vivian Moses
(Chairman, CropGen panel).
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