www.czu.cz ; www.raupp.info

The government hopes to solve bitter land disputes between prawn farmers and
rice farmers by developing genetically modified rice strains capable of
being grown in saline soil, the director-general of the Land Development
Department revealed January 2005.

?If we could use salt water for cultivation, the benefits to the nation
would be enormous?, said Mr. Ard Somrang, adding that the department would
work with scientists from all agencies concerned with the genetic
modification of crops in order to develop the new rice strains.

Although the commercial cultivation of GM crops is currently illegal in
Thailand, Mr. Ard dismissed concerns over their safety, and urged the public
to accept them.

In the future, he said, GM crops would play a major role in daily life, and
unless Thailand jumped on the GM bandwagon, it call fall behind other
nations.

[www.mcot.org]

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