Genetically modified crops and other organisms: implications for agricultural sustainability and biodiversity.

Abstract

f the UK statutory conservation bodies and inevitably Eurocentric, but I will try to pose some fundamental questions about the implications of agricultural biotechnology for developing countries. Statutory conservation advisors in the UK are not opposed to genetic modification as a technique for changing the characteristics of plants and animals. It is simply another, but very powerful, tool for plant and animal breeding. On the contrary, we see real promise in genetic modification for eventually producing more sustainable and environmentally friendly crops and farming. Biotechnology could give us a future where perennial crops have in-built resistance to pests and diseases, fix their own nitrogen, and give higher yields. We may eventually be able to produce entirely new plants, designed specifically to produce food, medicines, industrial chemicals and fuel. But let us not be blinded by such dreams; like all new technology, genetic modification is risky. E