Genetically modified crops are the key to human survival, says UK's chief scientist

Editor’s Note: Right on cue, here comes the PR campaign to label anti-GMO activists as “immoral.” Just as we predicted, the GMO giants need a food crisis to sell that they’re the savior and any opposition is heartless.

Sir John Beddington argues that moves to block GM crops on moral grounds are no longer sustainable

Robin Mckie
Guardian

Moves to block cultivation of genetically modified crops in the developing world can no longer be tolerated on ethical or moral grounds, the government’s chief scientist, Sir John Beddington, has warned. He said the world faced “a perfect storm” of issues that could lead to widespread food shortages and public unrest over the next few decades. His warning comes in the wake of food riots in north Africa and rising global concern about mounting food prices.

“A number of very important factors are about to change our world,” said Beddington, an expert in population biology. “Its population is rising by six million every month and will reach a total of around 9,000 million by 2050. At the same time, it is estimated that by 2030 more than 60% of the population will be living in cities and will no longer be involved in growing crops or raising domestic animals. And on top of that the world’s population is getting more prosperous and able to pay for more food.”

Beddington said these factors indicated that the world was going to need 40% more food, 30% more water and 50% more energy by the middle of the century – at a time when climate change was starting to have serious environmental impacts on the planet, flooding coastal plains, spreading deserts and raising temperatures. “We could cut down tropical rain forests and plant crops on the savannahs to grow more food, but that would leave us even more vulnerable to the impact of global warming and climate change. We needed these regions to help absorb carbon dioxide emissions, after all.”

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