Zukunftslabor Lindau: The logic of genetic engineering



[ad_1]

S In recent years, climate change has been at the center of the debates of the Nobel laureate, the ultimate global challenge of humanity, a large-scale development likely to affect life and health. the diet of billions of people. It is also the logic and credibility of science. In the public debate, especially on green genetic engineering, scientific facts have always been difficult. Instead of accepting what has been confirmed by an independent hand, dogmatic emotions and aggravations have dominated. The facts in favor of green genetic engineering are overwhelming.

During the twenty years of commercial cultivation, no genetic risk inherent in humans and in nature has become known. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), genetically modified crops grow on about 185 million hectares of cropland. The share of genetically modified soybeans on the world market is about 80%. Hundreds of millions of people have eaten these plants or products and countless animals have been used as food additives. There is no confirmed case that humans or animals have been injured by the use of genetically modified plants or their products. Miguel Sánchez of the ChileBio organization in Santiago and Wayne Parrott of the University of Georgia in Athens confirmed this last year by reviewing the published studies. Academies and scientific authorities from around the world, such as the US National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine or the Royal Society of London, also certify that conventional genetically modified plants have a high degree of safety for humans and animals. nature. Accept the seeds? "width =" 330 "clbad =" media con-Image_Image "src =" // www.faz.net/img/leer.gif "/>


Nevertheless, opponents continue to resist the genetic engineering of plants, but they accept them in medicine. Nearly two hundred genetically modified drugs have been approved in the Federal Republic of Germany, including ubiquitous products such as human insulin or cancer.

Richard Richard, Nobel laureate, has always denounced these double standards. and contacted the United Nations, the world's governments and Greenpeace two years ago with 129 other winners. In their letter, the Nobel laureates explicitly called on Greenpeace to stop its campaigns against genetic engineering in general and Golden Rice in particular, acknowledging that they overestimated the risks of green genetic engineering and underestimated their benefits. Golden rice is a genetically modified plant that produces beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A. Lack of vitamin A can cause blindness and weaken the immune system. The WHO estimates that 250 million people worldwide suffer from this deficiency. In developing countries, about 500,000 children become blind each year. Half of these children die the first year after losing their sight. A bowl of golden rice could meet their daily vitamin A needs. The letter from the Nobel laureate culminated in the phrase, "How many poor people must die in the world before considering this a crime against" 39, humanity? "

[ad_2]
Source link