Asia is home to the world's largest consumer base and the greatest number of farmers, and thus will set the future for genetically modified (GM) food. The GM struggle will be determined on which side Asia takes with regards the biotechnology debate. This is the premise of an article of John Feffer, a Pantech Fellow from Stanford University, in YaleGlobal, an online publication of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.

Feffer notes that “The stakes in Asia's decision on GM food are enormous: a huge market in seeds and crops, a total restructuring of farming practice, and a test of civil society's strength in countries where governments routinely dictate agricultural policy. The backlash against new technologies can be either a temporary speed bump or a significant obstacle.” Which side Asia accepts, Feffer adds, will determine the state of biotechnology.

A certain ambivalence among Asian countries suggests cautious entry into the GM arena with strong GM research activities tempered with moratorium on planting food crops. China for example, has an active research and development system on GM, remains the largest importer of GM soybeans, is growing a significant amount of GM cotton, but has not yet approved any GM crop for consumption.

ABSTRACT

Most media coverage of genetically modified (GM) food has centered on disputes between Europe and the United States. "But it is in Asia that the new techno-food will live or die," writes John Feffer. Asia is home to the largest consumer market, as well as the greatest number of farmers in the world. And it must now choose between accepting America's confidence in the safety and necessity of GM food, or Europe's more cautious approach. Through a variety of approaches, both the EU and the US have tried to influence ambivalent nations to move into their camps. These efforts have been met with resistance by farmers, consumers, and wary governments. And mixed results in trial operations threaten confidence in the technology. "In the end," concludes Feffer, "Asians will determine whether the new techno-foods remake the global diet or join radioactive fertilizer and cold fusion in the junk bin of science."

Article: http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=4956