| OAKLAND, CA - June 16 - The Independent Science Panel (ISP) yesterday released a report critical of genetically modified (GM) food and crops because of potential risks to human health and the environment, while making the case that better ways are readily available to produce food sustainably.
Based on more than 200 references to primary and secondary sources, the ISP report, The Case for a GM-Free Sustainable World, is a complete dossier of evidence on the known problems and hazards of GM crops as well as the manifold benefits of sustainable agriculture. This report comes at a time when governments have failed to conduct adequate health and safety tests.
"Many scientists are concerned over the safety of GM. We believe people should have all the evidence in front of them, so they can make the right choice for the future of agriculture and food security," said Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, director of the Institute of Science in Society in the United Kingdom, and lead author of the report. "We set up the Independent Science Panel because we have lost confidence in the official process."
"For better of for worse, this report will lay to rest the belief that GM food and crops pose no danger to health and the environment," said Dr. Peter Rosset, co-director of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First) in Oakland, CA, USA, and a contributor to the report. "There is no pressing need for GM crops to be in our food supply today," he said. "World agriculture is characterized by massive overproduction, and people go hungry because of poverty, not because of lack of GM seeds, when they are too poor to buy from the plenty around them. Thus we can afford the time for a moratorium on GM food and crops until such time -- if ever -- they are proven safe," he concluded.
The Independent Science Panel (ISP), consists of prominent scientists from seven countries, spanning the disciplines of agroecology, agronomy, biomathematics, botany, chemical medicine, ecology, histopathology, microbial ecology, molecular biology, molecular genetics, nutritional biochemistry, physiology, toxicology and virology.
For more information, please contact Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, director of the Institute of Science in Society in the United Kingdom; tel: 44-(0)20-7272-5636 or Dr. Peter Rosset, (510) 654-4400, ext. 224.
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