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GM food:Scientists say yes despite public fears
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SCIENTISTS believe the only solution to worldwide food problems is biotechnology, but they face an uphill struggle convincing the public that genetically modified produce is safe to eat.
The dilemma generated a heated debate at the 11th World Congress of Food Science and Technology in Seoul last week.
Scientists dream of being able to genetically engineer crops and provide people with better food and farmers with higher yield at lower cost.
But the question constantly thrown at the experts is: Are they really safe for us to eat?
Biotechnologists told the food conference that rather than respond by assuring sceptics the food is absolutely safe, they would say reliable safety tests had been conducted.
Bruce Stillings of the US Institute of Food Technologists said the US government applied rules for genetically engineered food technology that are as stringent as those for conventional breeding techniques.
The US scientist said genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a "potential tool", if not a "panacea", to solve the world's food problems that spread from North Korea across Asia and Africa.
According to experts at the meeting, there are now almost 50 genetically modified agricultural products approved for sale in the United States.
The US approved a genetically modified tomato for the first time in 1994 and other GM products on the menu include 10 types of corn, eight species of cotton seed, seven sorts of rape seed, six species of tomato and three kinds of potato.
But GMOs have sparked global consumer protests, particularly in Europe. Scientists have been unable to overcome widespread suspicions that only biotech firms with patents will benefit from GMOs.
Rickey Yada of the University of Guelph in Canada said the controversy over GMOs may "go beyond science".
"It's like a philosophical argument between people who believe in GMOs and people who do not believe in GMOs," Yada said.
Earlier, anti-GMO activists rallied in several parts of France with some storming a French experimental farm in Aveyron, and also in Quebec, Canada ahead of a summit of 34 North and Latin American leaders.
The protesters led by Via Campesina, a global network of farmers, environmentalists and other civic groups, claimed the gene research program will lead to the "ownership of living organisms" by firms.
Greenpeace, the international environmental pressure group, says the problem of global hunger is a political, not scientific issue.
Some critics also argue the world's food shortage is a distribution matter.
But supporters of GMOs say genetic engineering will help make plants more resistant to viruses, drought and highly saline soil.(SD-Agencies)
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