2-Plants: FAO urges debate on GE crops

[GENETNL <genetnl@xs4all.be>]

-------------------------- GENET-news ---------------------------

TITLE:  FAO head urges international debate on modified crops
SOURCE: Agence Press, edited and sent by Agnet, Canada
DATE:   February 16, 2000

----------------- archive: http://www.gene.ch/ ------------------


FAO head urges international debate on modified crops

ROME -- Jacques Diouf, the head of the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization, was cited as calling for an international debate on
genetically modified organisms (GMOs), saying the FAO will set up
an ethics committee to study the issue, adding, "In order to know
how to apply the 'precaution principle,' we need an international
debate on GMOs , which are also a problem for civilisation and
society. ... Between now and June, the FAO will set up an
international committee on agricultural ethics." Diouf, who began
a second three-year mandate in November 1999, was cited as adding
that the committee would include "philosopers and religious
representatives to consider the problem's human dimensions. ...
Today, with scientific advances, we have learned to isolate genes
and to transfer them. We cannot therefore avoid asking ourselves
what will happen if we put modified genes back into the
environment."




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