What use is GM food? (7/27/2001) Sir, The failure of this yearŐs wheat harvest and the resultant increase in price on
world grain markets (report, July 23; see also letter, July 24) highlights yet again
that we do not need genetically modified higher-yielding crops. We need water.
There is food aplenty, so much so that in Europe we pay ever increasing sums to
farmers not to grow it and in many parts of the world food is still burnt. The food
shortages in the Horn of Africa can be alleviated by better transport, drought in
Sudan by better supply of water, and so on.
130 GM test crops revealed (7/11/2001) SECRET sites where genetically modified crops are being trialled in SA have been revealed for
the first time, sparking concerns crops will be ripped up by protesters.
The details of 130 GM crops were released by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator over
the weekend, a move Primary Industries Minister Rob Kerin said was irresponsible.
Are Farmers planting too much Bt corn? (7/9/2001) Not since the introduction of synthetic insecticides in the 1950s has agriculture seen such a
potentially powerful technology as genetically altered plants to fight pests. But that potential must
be weighed against the risks of using it, according to a paper published in the May 2001 journal,
BioScience.