Former UK chief scientist: Europe’s opposition to GMOs ‘dangerously naive’ in the face of climate change

A former UK chief scientist has warned that politicians around the globe are ignoring science for the sake of short-term political opportunism.

This comes, Sir John Beddington argues, as growing urban populations are demanding more energy, water and food at a time when climate change is creating more natural weather disasters.

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“There is a movement in Europe which is just against any genetically-modified plant used for food [and] that is so naive,” he said.

“There’s no doubt in the developing world, plants can be modified to be resistant to drought or insect pests and that is going to be very, very important moving into the future.

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Sir John argues that the reality of gene editing in plants was to produce plants that were resistant to droughts, pests and diseases, all while boosting yields.

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In an era of so-called ‘anti-science’, Sir John said it was more important than ever that scientist ensured their relevancy within society.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Sir John Beddington warns ‘anti-science’ leads to poor policy decisions on climate change, GM crops