The John Innes Centre

Give GM Technology A Chance

Sir - Despite the spectacular increases in crop productivity by modern agricultural practice and the breeding of improved varieties, more than 40 per cent of the world's crops are still lost each year to diseases, pests and competition with weeds - a figure comparable to medieval farming.

Spraying crops with fungicides and pesticides is effective for many pests and diseases, though for others - notably those caused by viruses - no effective means of direct control exists. Together, crop losses and agrochemical prices amount to hundreds of billion of pounds each year. These, and the increasing awareness of the environmental impact of agriculture, emphasise the need for more sustainable production systems.

Understanding how plant diseases are caused, and why some plants are resistant to some diseases, is the proper starting point for developing new methods that use minimal force in controlling disease.

We are a typical cross-section of the international scientific community addressing these questions, who have been attending a major symposium. We have been discussing new evidence of the mechanisms that plants and their disease-causing antagonists have evolved in their never-ending battle with each other. It is now possible to devise very precise ways to harness Nature's own genetic means in the design of resistant crops through genetic modification. Instead of the current campaign of vilification of genetic modification as a technology, there should be a commitment to looking objectively at what it offers.

Science working with Nature may be the only way to rectify the environmental record of agriculture to date, and ensure the survival and improved wellbeing of the world's population next century.