With the world shocked by rising food prices, and millions in the developing world struggling to get enough to eat, the problem of food security is right back on the world’s agenda. And with the world’s population likely to rise to nine billion in the next few decades, feeding the world is going to become an ever-greater problem. Are transgenic crops the answer to the problem, or do they, as Prince Charles has argued, threaten an environmental catastrophe? What’s the evidence on the success or failure of GM to date?
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Thomas Deichmann editor, NovoArgumente; author, Die Steinzeit steckt uns in den Knochen: gesundheit als erbe der evolution |
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Denis Murphy professor of biotechnology, Univesity of Glamorgan; government advisor; author People, Plants, and Genes: The Story of Crops and Humanity and Plant Biotechnology (forthcoming). |
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Robin Maynard campaigns director, Soil Association |
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| Chair: | |
 | Rob Lyons deputy editor, spiked; writer on science and risk; author, Panic on a Plate: how society developed an eating disorder |
GM crops can boost productivity in lean times. Prince Charles was wrong to dismiss them out of hand.
Julian Little, The Guardian, 14 August 2008Prince Charles has warned that the adoption of genetic modification in farming has set the world on course for "the biggest disaster, environmentally, of all time".
Robert Booth, The Guardian, 13 August 2008
GM: it’s safe, but it’s not a saviour
Denis Murphy, a leading British expert on biotech, says GM food is very beneficial – but it won’t solve the food price crisis.
Rob Lyons, spiked, 7 July 2008What are genetically modified crops, and should we be concerned about them?
David Adam, Guardian, 23 May 2008Rather than simply vilifying agbiotech and GM crops, we need to foster a greater understanding of the wider opportunities (and possible risks) that they might bring.
Denis Murphy, Public Service Review, 1 December 2006
The Schmeiser story
How a Canadian farmer lost his battle with Monsanto - but achieved star status among European environmentalists.
Thomas Deichmann, spiked, 10 October 2002
GM: past, present and future
Mankind has been modifying crops for thousands of years - so why is there such hostility to genetically modified food?
Channapatna S Prakash, spiked, 16 August 2001
