CAST Commentary
QTA 2005-2 October 2005
Crop Biotechnology and the Future of Food:
A Scientific Assessment

http://www.biotech.ucdavis.edu/PDFs/CAST%20Report%20-%20Crop%20Biotechnology%...

Crop Biotechnology and the Future of Food:
A Scientific Assessment

Bruce M. Chassy Wayne A. Parrott Richard Roush
Dept. of Food Science and Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences Dept. of Entomology Human Nutrition University of Georgia University of California, Davis University of Illinois, Urbana

Reviewers:
Susan Harlander Alan McHughen Jeffrey Wolt
BIOrational Consultants Biotechnology Specialist Biosafety Inst. for Genetically
New Brighton, Minnesota Univ. of California, Riverside Modified Ag. Products
Iowa State University, Ames


Introduction
The introduction of agriculture marked the beginning of modern civilization. Over the ensuing
10,000 years, agriculturalists have improved agricultural production to support a growing population.
Increased production often resulted from breeding—that is, the genetic modification—of crop plants.
The Green Revolution intensified agricultural production, prevented mass starvation, and saved millions
of acres of wilderness from going under the plow (Evans 1998; Trewavas 2001), while at the same time
permitting agricultural practices that degraded the quality of some agricultural lands. In recent years,
transgenic plants—that is, genetically modified plants produced through modern biotechnology (see
Glossary)—have made it possible to continue the benefits of the Green Revolution while at the same time
diminishing the detrimental environmental impact of agriculture.
The introduction of transgenic plants has not been without controversy. Films such as The Future
of Food and books/videos such as Seeds of Deception and Hidden Dangers in Kids’ Meals are representtative
of an ideology that rejects what is seen as the industrialization of agriculture and its use of genetic
modification. Despite a preponderance of scientific evidence to the contrary, these and other activist
critics claim that these transgenic crops are not safe to eat, that they do not perform well, that natural
resistances will soon arise making engineered plants useless, and that genes will escape and thereby
“contaminate” other crops or produce “superweeds.”
Yet over the last decade, 8.5 million farmers have grown transgenic varieties of crops on more
than 1 billion acres of farmland in 17 countries (http://www.isaaa.org/). More than 7 million of these
farmers are small-holders in developing countries. These crops have been consumed by humans and
animals in most countries. Therefore, a prodigious amount of data and observation is available on which
to judge the safety and usefulness of transgenic crops. This commentary weighs hypothetical hazards
voiced by activist critics against the available evidence and experience with transgenic crops.

11:36 am
may 3, 20190

NORMAN BORLAUG

Father of the Green Revolution Norman E. Borlaug

Father of the Green Revolution Norman E. Borlaug

http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1616550


 

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