In a new online video and podcast released today, 14 globally
recognized and distinguished scientists, economists and thought leaders
discuss the use of genetically modified food crops over the last decade ?
including their proven safety, benefits to the environment, and
contributions to the lives of third-world farm families and communities.
?Here we have a very versatile technology, which has the power and the
capacity to contribute to a more effective, a more benign, a more
sustainable agriculture,? says Dr. Clive James, agricultural scientist and
founder of the not-for-profit International Service for the Acquisition of
Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). ?80 percent of the poor people that we
have on this planet today are farmers or people that work on farms. So,
therefore, if you can introduce biotech crops ? that will increase the
income of these people, then you are making a direct contribution to the
alleviation of poverty.?

In 2006, more than 10.3 million farmers across 22 countries grew more
than 252 million acres (102 million hectares) of genetically modified
soybean, corn, canola and cotton crops. The vast majority (9.3 million) of
those farmers were resource-poor farmers from developing countries, such as
China, India, the Philippines and South Africa, where increased income from
genetically modified food crops is contributing to the alleviation of
poverty.

?So we can?t just harshly and violently oppose this technology when we
know that it can work for our farmers,? explains the Honorable Dr. Ruth
Oniang?o, a member of the Kenyan Parliament and founder of the
not-for-profit Rural Outreach Program. ?Because the people who are opposed
to these technologies are not the farmers themselves ? they are people who
can afford food.?

?If we give important technologies to grow more food in poor places ?
better seed varieties, better ways to manage soil nutrients, better ways to
manage plant pathogens ? ? it?s going to create livelihoods. It?s going to
create income in the villages. It?s going to convert what is now
sub-subsistence agriculture into commercial farming,? says Dr. Jeffrey
Sachs, quetelet professor of Sustainable Development and professor of Health
Policy and Management at Columbia University, director of The Earth
Institute, and director of The United Nations Millennium Project.

?Looking ahead to the year 2050, we will have to produce the food and
fiber for something approaching 10 billion people,? says Dr. Norman Borlaug,
who received the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership role in the
?Green Revolution? to increase food production and currently serves as
senior consultant to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
(CIMMYT), and as president of the Sasakawa Africa Association. ?Can we do
it? I say yes. If we continue to develop technology ? including more
widespread application of biotechnology.?

In addition to Drs. Borlaug, James, Oniango?o and Sachs, the new video
features comments from:
? Dr. Klaus Ammann, honorary professor emeritus and former director of
the Botanical Garden at the University of Bern, Switzerland
? Dr. Francisco Arag?o, senior researcher in Genetic Research and
Biotechnology at Embrapa in Brazil
? Dr. Roger Beachy, researcher and founding president of the
not-for-profit
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in the USA
? Dr. Laveesh Bhandari, economist and director of Indicus Analytics in
India
? Graham Brookes, agricultural economist and director of PG Economics
in
England
? Mary Lee Chin, M.S., R.D. of Nutrition Edge Communications in the
USA
? Dr. Luciano Di Ciero, scientific researcher in the Forest Genetic
Research
and Biotechnology Laboratory at ESALQ, University of S?o Paulo,
Brazil
? Dr. C. Ford Runge, director of The Center for International Food and
Agricultural Policy, and professor of Applied Economics and Law at
The
University of Minnesota, USA
? The Honorable Lord Taverne, member of the United Kingdom?s House of
Lords and founder of the charity Sense about Science
? Francois Traore, president of the National Cotton Producers Union of
Burkina Faso

These experts discuss the proven safety of genetically modified food
crops, their contributions to the environment over the last decade, and the
inherent value for farmers in third-world countries. The video can be
viewed, downloaded or embedded into another Web site from the Conversations
about Plant Biotechnology Web site. The transcript and additional comments
from many of these experts are also available.

Conversations about Plant Biotechnology is designed to give a voice
and a face to the farmers and families who grow GM crops and the experts who
research and study the benefits of biotechnology in agriculture. The Web
site contains more than 70 two- to three-minute, extremely candid,
straightforward and compelling video segments with the people who know the
technology best. The Web site is hosted by Monsanto Company - a leading
global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that
improve farm productivity and food quality.
[www.prleap.com]