GMO opponents have expressed dismay at the apparent approval biotechnology received in the recently published United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report 2001.
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Food policy analyst Devinder Sharma and the Andhra Pradesh Coalition in Defence of Diversity revealed they are shocked by the report, and claimed that the UN has made a U-turn on the recommendations in its 1999 report.
Two years ago, the UN concluded that the move to put GM firmly in Third World agriculture was fundamentally flawed. In its latest report however, the development programme committee argues that it is wrong to focus solely on the potential harms of the technology. GM food can feed the world, it says, and specifically asks that GM varieties of sub-Saharan Africa staples such as sorghum, cassava and maize be developed.
The report does acknowledge environmental and health risks but says that these can be managed and that the concerns of the developed world should not stand in the way of third world access to potentially life-saving technology. More long-term research should be completed, and labelling will allow consumers to make their own choices, it says.
The UN has called for all governments to establish new institutional and scientific policies to manage biotechnology and its potential risks.
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