Appalachian State University

International Relations Association

Background Report:  UNEP GMOs

Powerful tools provided by science and technology in recent years have had a profound impact on the food and agriculture sector worldwide. Innovative production and processing methods have revolutionized many traditional systems, and the world's capacity to generate food products for its growing population has evolved at an unprecedented rate.

These developments have naturally been accompanied by radical changes in economic forces and social organization as well as in management of the earth's productive resources. Our very relationship with nature has been overturned by technological advances that enable us not only to determine genetic improvements through selective breeding, but also to modify living organisms and create new genetic combinations in the quest for stronger and more productive plants, animals and fish. Understandably, such developments invariably give rise to controversy, and arguments for and against their implementation tend to be intense and emotionally charged.

Acknowledging the potential contributions of genetically modified products to world food production is not to ignore their possible risks with regard to food safety and unpredictable environmental hazards - the most commonly cited being the feared transfer of toxins or allergens and unintended negative effects on non-target species. Nor is it to minimize the possibility of undesirable consequences that these products may have in the long term, such as diminished bio-diversity through the loss of traditional crops. Furthermore, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), like all the new technologies, are instruments that can be used for good and for bad in the same way that they can be either democratically managed to the benefit of the most needy or skewed to the advantage of specific groups that hold the vital political, economic and technological power. In the case of GMOs, it must be noted, the main beneficiaries to date have been the private sector technology developers and large-scale agricultural producers, mostly to be found in developed countries. To ensure that benefits are shared more fairly with developing countries and resource-poor farmers, the current system of intellectual property rights and similar barriers to the ready transfer of modern biotechnologies needs to be modified. Above all, research must be directed towards these countries and disadvantaged farmers, and ways must be found to guarantee that increased production benefits accrue to the poor and food-insecure.

Source: Jacques Diouf – Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization

Further thoughts on GMOs:

"To feed 10.8 billion people by 2050 will require us to convert 15 million square miles of virgin forest, wilderness and marginal land into agrochemical-dependent arable land. GM crops hold the most important key to solve future problems in feeding an extra 5 billion mouths over the next 50 years."

Michael Wilson of the Scottish Crops Research Institute, in 1997

"If imports [of GMO seeds] ... are regulated unnecessarily, the real losers will be the developing nations. Instead of reaping the benefits of decades of discovery and research, people from Africa and Southeast Asia will remain prisoners of outdated technology. Their countries could suffer greatly for years to come. It is crucial that they reject the propaganda of extremist groups before it is too late."

Former United States President Jimmy Carter, in 1998

Questions to Consider:

Is my country a developer of GMO technology?

How widespread is the problem of hunger in my country?

Is my country a major food producer?