While the
SBC supports all areas of research relevant to seeds, we
believe that biotechnology has enormous potential to
contribute to agriculture. The products that have already been
marketed, including crops with tolerance to herbicides,
insects and viruses, have demonstrated that they are effective
and provide value to the grower and safe food for the
consumer.
These products have reduced the use
of pesticides and have encouraged the adoption of conservation
tillage practices that have considerable environmental
benefits. Other applications of biotechnology currently under
development can also extend direct benefits to consumers
through quality or nutritional enhancement or production of
pharmaceuticals in plants.
While the risks and benefits of each
application of biotechnology need to be evaluated, there is
little doubt that in many cases the biological approach will
be superior to previous agricultural practices. As the earth's
human population increases by 50% over the next 40 years and
the total demand for food may triple, we will need all the
tools and ingenuity available to produce sufficient food
without degrading the resource base that makes it possible.
