A report on biotechnology to be published next month is to express the Pope’s belief that GM crops hold the answer to world hunger.
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The report will come down very clearly in favour of genetic modification, according to an article in the Times newspaper. It is believed that the Vatican’s stance is based on biblical teaching that man should have dominion over nature, as established in Genesis, the very first book of the Bible. Man should utilise nature to make life better for suffering humans, which in this case includes the starving.
Archbishop Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said the Pope had taken a keen interest in new technologies that could be harnessed to stabilise the world’s food supply. The report will advance the theory that there is no room for environmental ideology when 24,000 people die from starvation each day. Monsignor Velasio De Paolis, a professor of canon law at the Pontifical Urban University, is quoted in the article as saying that it is “easy to say no to GM food if your stomach is full.”
The news has shocked some environmental activists who feel that the Vatican is, perhaps unwittingly, using its considerable weight to back a misguided campaign that will leave the power over food supply in the hands of multinational corporations.
Unlike conventional seeds, GM seeds are non-reproducible, so farmers have to keep going back to the companies that hold the patents to buy more seed.
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