Europe
May 8, 2008
Source:
GMO Compass
According to the position of many
experts, agriculture across the world is facing a trend
reversal: Global food stocks are nearly used up, climate change
can lead to significant yield losses in certain regions and the
prices for staple foods are rising worldwide. In addition,
competition between the cultivation of renewable raw materials
(fuel, synthetics, etc.) and the production of foods keeps
increasing.
To feed the ever growing world population, existing areas should
be cultivated more efficiently. A further expansion of
agricultural areas, according to expert opinion, would
inevitably be at the expense of subnatural areas, which are
essential to the preservation of biodiversity on our planet.
In this situation the question is which technologies could
contribute towards solving these problems, which are socially
accepted and which – based on scientific findings – are suitable
from a technological and long-term ecological aspect.
GMO Compass cannot and does not want to give definitive answers
to these questions. Obviously we, as editors of GMO Compass, had
the recent polls on this subject in mind when we decided to
initiate an online survey regarding food security and
environmental protection. A survey carried out by Emnid in
Germany shows that the reservations against agricultural genetic
engineering were reduced if the global food crisis was eased
through GM plants. Subsequently, 56% of the respondents were
prepared to eat genetically modified plants if the global food
situation could be improved thereby.
With a quick survey on the European consumer portal GMO Compass,
we wanted to capture the opinions on this subject on a larger
scale. We asked whether European agriculture should make use of
all available technologies – including genetic engineering and
biotechnology – if negative effects on the environment could be
ruled out and positive effects on world nutrition were possible
as a result. Of the 5435 ballots cast in the past 5 days, 83.9%
voted for the utilisation of all technologies.
Regarding the question whether genetically modified plants
should at least be taken into consideration as an option to
achieving an increase in yields and yield stability possible
whilst protecting the environment at the same time was supported
by the majority of participants (84.3%). Equally, plants should
– in principle – be adapted to environmental conditions, as for
example drought, or improved in respect of their
nutrition-physiological qualities. Only 10.5% voted against this
option.
From emails received in response to our survey, it was apparent
that the subject agricultural genetic engineering – as a
building block to an improved world nutrition and a reduction of
environmental impact – continues to require intense social
discussion.
Questions, such as "Is genetic engineering an acceptable option"
or "Which specific applications of genetic engineering in
agriculture may find consensus" will play a crucial role in
these future discussions.
The survey is certainly not representative enough and merely
gave us a momentary picture of public opinion. However, we do
see evidence that the mood is changing. People are aware of
global challenges and the need to react to them appropriately.
What is the editorial team of GMO-Compass planning on the
website www.gmo-compass.org in the future?
GMO Compass will accompany and stimulate the discussions on
GM-technologies in Europe. We will pick up and mirror
scientifically proven facts in biotechnology and genetically
modified plants, but we also will pay strong attention to risks,
threats and misgivings – whether real or as perceived by the
public.
GMO-Compass will provide an arena in which to show and report on
results and proven findings of scientists. We strongly believe
that public interest and scientific findings need to be
interconnected to adequately support the process of social
decision making.
We, the GMO Compass team, would like to thank all participants
in the snapshot poll. The strong response to our "quick survey"
overwhelmed us.
Your GMO Compass Team |
|
