By Esteban Israel


Cuba could soon authorize the planting of 124 acres of genetically-modified
corn for the first time to help reduce its dependence on costly food
imports, Cuban scientists said on Tuesday.


Regulators are expected to approve this initial crop of biotech corn, which
would provide enough seed to expand to 14,830 acres next year, said Carlos
Borroto, deputy director of state-run Institute for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology.

"We expect over the next few days to get the license for those 50 hectares,"
he told reporters. "This is very important, because the alternative is to
keep relying on imports."

Cuba imports around 60 percent of its food, including large amounts of soy,
wheat and corn. The United States is the Communist-ruled island's largest
food supplier under an amendment to its trade embargo on Cuba.

Cuban President Raul Castro recently called increased agricultural output a
matter of "national security" as soaring international food prices are
expected to drain more than $2 billion from the government's coffers this
year.

Some environmental groups oppose transgenic crops because they say the food
may hold unknown long-term health dangers. But GMO supporters say the crops
carry no health risks and are the only way to reduce world food shortages.

Borroto said biotech corn similar to the Cuban type had already passed
strict controls in Japan, Canada and Europe. Cuban laboratories are also in
the development stages of producing genetically modified soy, potatoes and
tomatoes.

International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, a
non-profit group promoting biotech foods, estimates GMO crops are now grown
in 23 countries, mostly by poor farmers in developing countries.

"You have a need for more and better food, nutritionally. This technology
can provide you with that option," said the group's founder Clive James, a
British scientist who was invited to Havana by the Cuban institute. "I
believe there is an opportunity for Cuba to do so in the near term."

Cuba's harvests have been battered this year by three hurricanes that the
government estimates caused nearly $10 billion in damages. The storms
destroyed 30 percent of the country's crops, touching off brief food
shortages.

(Writing by Patrick Markey in Havana, editing by Anthony Boadle)

www.checkbiotech.org