Dr Guy Poppy - Biological Sciences, Southampton University

"The future of GM is difficult to assess due to the agendas of the many interested parties. If a product came along with great benefit clearly seen by all, then any risks would be tolerated. This has been clearly demonstrated by the popularity of mobile phone technology. The concepts of multinational domination, food security, sustainability and rising population make the debate more complex and intense. I think that GM technology has an important part to play in solving many problems, but it needs to be integrated into other strategies. If we lose GM technology due to hidden agendas and misinformation, it will be a real loss to society."

International Rice Research Institute (IRRI, committed to providing new options for poor rice farmers)

"The IRRI's only interest in the future of GM rice is to ensure that developing countries, which will ultimately make their own decisions on whether or not to adopt GM technologies, have all the facts and expertise necessary to do so in a way that will benefit their rice farmers and consumers."

Monsanto (an international GM food association)

"The future is far brighter for developing countries like China, India and South Africa, which see GM as one tool in the toolbox in their fight against hunger, than it is for EU farmers in their efforts simply to remain in agriculture."

CropGen

"Choosing gene technology will be an important tool for much of the world's agriculture. It will increase yields for growing populations on ever-scarcer farmland, improve nutrition for under-nourished people, facilitate farming on poor land and in harsh climates, keep the quality of the harvest and keep prices low."

American Soy Bean Association

"The future we envision for biotechnology-derived foods...is one in which food consumers - especially in Europe - realize that biotechnology-derived foods are in general safer for consumers and the environment than those from tried and tested traditional varieties."

Steven Hill, Department of plant sciences, Oxford University

"Theuse of GM in agriculture will increase in the future, although I think that the pace with which it is adopted in Europe will be slower than in the rest of the world. I think that there are many exciting potential applications for GM: an enhanced ability for crops to grow in harsh environments; major reductions in the chemical input (pesticides and fertilizers) that are required for high-yield agriculture; significant improvements in 'biomass' crops for energy production and many others."

Soil Association

"We do not see any future for genetic modification. The consumer doesn't want it. The third world doesn't need it. The future is organic."

Liberal Democrats

"Until the scientific results come in over the next few years we really cannot be sure of the future of GM foods. They have huge potential for increasing yields and feeding the world, but this should not be done at the expense of people's health and the environment."

Prince Charles

"Wesimply do 'not know the long-term consequences of releasing plants bred in this way, for human health or for the wider environment...once genetic material has been released into the environment it cannot be recalled...if something does go badly wrong we will be faced with clearing up a kind of pollution which is actually self-perpetuating."

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1454