IT鈥橲 time for the rich multinationals that dominate agricultural
biotechnology to help the poorest of the poor, say seven elite scientific bodies
from around the world. In an unprecedented show of unity, they are calling on
multinationals to consider forgoing profits on crop varieties destined for
farmers in poor countries, and put genetically modified crops at the service of
the 800 million people in developing countries who are desperate for a daily
meal.
The report is given extra force by the involvement of the national scientific
bodies of India, Mexico, Brazil and China, plus the Third World Academy of
Sciences in Trieste. They coauthored the report with the Royal Society in
Britain and the US National Academies of Science.
Each body is issuing the report this week. 鈥淭his is the first time a group of
academies has got together to consider an issue like this,鈥� says Brian Heap,
vice-president of the Royal Society, which coordinated the initiative. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a
joint effort and we鈥檝e worked through every single point together,鈥� he says.
鈥淓veryone鈥檚 on board.鈥�
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The authors of the report make an unequivocal call for compassionate aid.
鈥淧rivate corporations and research institutions should make arrangements to
share GM technology, now held under strict patents and licensing agreements. .
.for use in hunger alleviation and to enhance food security in developing
countries,鈥� they say.
The report recommends setting up an international advisory committee to
assess the interests of governments, companies and aid agencies, and broker
agreements for the compassionate and concessionary use of such technology.
鈥淚f [GM technology] can be proven to be usefully employed for poor countries,
it鈥檚 got to be tailored exactly for the needs of the poor farmers,鈥� says Matt
Grainger of Oxfam. That means not locking poor farmers into the 鈥渃ycle of
profit, ownership and monopoly鈥�, he says.
The benefits could be huge, the report says, acknowledging that crops would
need to be designed to ensure they don鈥檛 damage the environment or human health.
Farmers could reclaim barren, salty fields by equipping crops with a
salt-tolerance gene from mangroves, for example. Soil erosion and water loss
through over-ploughing could be avoided if soil pests were thwarted by
self-protected roots.
Biotech giant Monsanto says it鈥檚 sympathetic to this approach, and is already
making some technology available without charge. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 exactly what we鈥檝e done
with the rice genome,鈥� says company spokesman Tony Coombes.
