Think Again on GMC Issues
Posted on: Wednesday, 23 April 2008, 00:00 CDT
By S.M. Mohamed Idris
WE read with grave concern the views expressed by Jeong Chun Phuoc of Malacca suggesting that genetically-modified crops (GMCs) are a "viable solution" for the current food shortage.
He claims that "modern science has proven that GMCs are safe for human consumption" ("It's time to revisit the GMC issue" - NST, April 18).
Such claims cannot be further from the truth. The jury is still out on the safety of GMCs and foods. Indeed, a report by the International Assessment of Agriculture Science and Technology (IAASTD), released on April 15, following an intergovernmental plenary meeting in Johannesburg, confirms the doubts and uncertainties about GMCs.
The IAASTD is an independent and multi-stakeholder international assessment of agriculture. It was launched as an intergovernmental process, with a multi-stakeholder bureau, under the co-sponsorship of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation and other agencies.
More than 400 authors were involved in drafting the report, drawing on the evidence and assessments of thousands of experts worldwide. The report was notably muted on the claimed benefits of GM crops, highlighting instead the doubts and uncertainties surrounding them.
For poor farmers, the report concludes, GM crops are unlikely to play a substantial role in addressing their needs. The report called for longer-term assessments of the environmental and health risks and regulatory frameworks.
Instead of promoting GMCs, the IAASTD concluded that a radical change was needed in agriculture policy and practice, to address hunger and poverty, social inequities and environmental sustainability.
The report emphasised that sustainable agriculture which is bio- diversity based, including agro-ecology and organic farming, is beneficial to poor farmers and said this should be supported by the appropriate government policy and regulatory frameworks.
It found that the current way of farming is unsustainable and fails to meet sustainable development goals.
The report's message is that the business-as-usual scenario of industrial farming, input and energy intensiveness, and marginalisation of small-scale farmers is no longer tenable. While past emphasis on production and yields had brought some benefits, this was at the expense of the environment and social equity.
The IAASTD report calls for a systematic redirection of investment, funding, research and policy focus towards the needs of small farmers.
It stresses the need for greater emphasis on safeguarding natural resources and agro-ecological practices, as well as tapping the wide range of traditional knowledge held by local communities and farmers.
Given the importance of the findings of this report, the time has come for the government to heed the call for sustainable agriculture and redirect greater financial resources and efforts in this direction to meet our food self-sufficiency needs, while addressing rural poverty and ensuring environmental sustainability.
S.M. MOHAMED IDRIS
for Consumers Association of Penang and Sahabat Alam Malaysia
(c) 2008 New Straits Times. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: New Straits Times
User Comments (1)
| 1. |
Posted by jeogn Chun-Phuoc on 05/11/2008, 10:04 11.5.2008 The article written by S.M. MOHAMED IDRIS (for Consumers Association of Penang and Sahabat Alam Malaysia) in reply to my 1st article (published in the NST 18 April 2008) lacks international scientific support and logic. He relies on a single report that he himself knew was not representative of the world scientific community across the board. As stated in my 1st article, and i repeat here again for the sake of clarity and fair comment, that 'the public must be given a choice to decide for themselves and consumerism efforts, if any, lies in promoting fair public education and awareness.' I am still of the opinion that GMCs provides a 'viable answer' to world hunger and food shortages. .............................. Jeong Chun Phuoc* Lecturer-in-Law Multimedia University Malaysia(MMU) Jeongphu@yahoo.com *LLM (NUS) LLB (Hons) (IIUM) 11th May 2008 |
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