www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

Australians will have to accept genetically modified food if the agriculture
industry is to continue in an era of climate change, an Adelaide expert
says.
Professor Mark Tester from the Australian Centre for Plant Functional
Genomics at the University of Adelaide said genetically modified (GM) food
should be embraced as farmers battle the effects of global warming.

Prof Tester said a current GM study focused on improving the "toughness"
genes of plants so they could survive in extended periods of drought,
high-salinity areas or hotter weather.

Australian farmers who grew wheat and barley could benefit most from changes
in the structure of plants, he said.

"Genetic modification can help accelerate improvements in crop plants to
enable them to better cope with the rapidly changing environment," Prof
Tester said.

"There is no doubt that as farmers face reduced yields, they will need all
the tools they can get to help them grow our food sustainability and
economically.

"Genetic modification is one of those tools."

Prof Tester said he understood current opposition to GM crops because the
public could not see any benefit but technological improvements would
produce better crops for the future with less stress on the environment.

He said there was no reason why people who embraced organic and clean food
could not embrace GM food.

"Genetically modified food is about adapting the plant to the environment
rather than adopting the environment to the plant," he said.

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