Has the anti-GMO movement ‘hijacked’ sustainable agriculture?

health and sustainability x
Credit: World Financial Review

The hijacking of the terms ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ by anti-genetically modified organism (GMO) groups is misleading, according scientists at University College Cork (UCC). The criticism comes in the wake of the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) ruling that organisms obtained by gene-editing are also GMOs.

Dr Barbara Doyle Prestwich and Dr Eoin Lettice of UCC have said it is grossly misleading to equate “GMO cultivation-free status with green, sustainable food [production]”. They have organized the International Association for Plant Biotechnology’s (IAPB) congress …. It is their hope it will provide an opportunity to demonstrate the scientific evidence on the safety and economic viability of utilizing biotechnology, such as gene-editing, in agriculture.

“The next generation of gene-edited crops has the potential to cut climate emissions in agriculture and boost global food security. Such crops are far more ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ than they are given credit for and should be utilised as part of any sustainable food production system, including organic agriculture,” said Dr Lettice.

Read full, original article: Hijacking of term ‘sustainable’ by anti-GMO groups misleading – UCC scientists

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