FOOD BIOTECHNOLOGY: PROMISING HAVOC OR HOPE FOR THE POOR?

摘要

Despite its tremendous potential for safer and more nutritious foods, biotechnology has become a major source of international contention. Concerns about genetically modified plants intensified significantly over the last year, particularly in Europe,setting the terms for the international agribiotech debate and heavily influencing the policies of the World Trade Organization and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Yet the commercialization of these crops continues to significantly increase. In1995, there were 4 million acres of biotech crops planted (11); and 100 million in 1999 (12). In the U.S., 50 percent of the soybean crop and more than one third of the corn crop were transgenic in 1999. These new crops are popular because they provide farmers, life sciences companies, and consumers with major benefits such as reduced pesticide applications, higher yields, and lower consumer prices (28). The increased use of these crops, however, is also creating international friction over the political economy of agriculture, the environmental impact of agribiotechnology, the regulation of transgenic foods, consumer choice, and, of course, the relative competitiveness of nations.