The case for genetically modified crops with a poverty focus

• DOI: 10.1016/s0167-7799(00)01547-x
• Publication Date: 2002-07-25T19:50:18Z
• Authors: Howard J. Atkinson; Jayne Green; Sue Cowgill; Aurora Levesley
• Keywords: 2. Zero hunger; 0301 basic medicine; Bolivia; 1. No poverty; Agriculture; 15. Life on land; Plants, Genetically Modified; 03 medical and health sciences; Humans; Plants, Edible; Safety; Genetic Engineering; Nematode Infections; Developing Countries; Poverty; Ecosystem; Biotechnology; Plant Diseases; Solanum tuberosum

Recently seven National Academies of Science produced a report on transgenic plants and world agriculture. The report provides scientific perspectives to the ongoing public debate about the potential role for transgenic technology in world agriculture. In this article, we develop the themes of the report and emphasize the potential for future genetically modified (GM) crops with a poverty focus, emphasizing the potential of GM resistance to plant parasitic nematodes for subsistence potato farmers in Bolivia. We judge that a range of incremental gains to crop yields from many transgenes are valuable for future world security. We advocate the establishment of a standard that GM crops must achieve before they are both biosafe and appropriate for resource-poor farmers and we believe that the best interests of the poor require biotechnologists to work towards that objective.