By Jennifer Ng


THE United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called for
increased investments in a nearly century-old technique using radiation to
produce high-yielding plants to help millions of people worldwide in the
throes of hunger.


The IAEA said the technique, dubbed as mutation induction, which has been
used since the 1920s, is safe and cost-effective. The UN agency noted that
plants bred using this technique are adaptable to droughts, floods and other
harsh weather conditions, and can be bred to be resistant to diseases and
pests.

?Selecting the crops that are better able to feed us is one of humankind?s
oldest sciences. But we?ve neglected to give it the support and investment
it requires for universal application,? said Mohamed ElBaradei,
director-general of the IAEA.

In mutation induction, scientists apply mutagens such as gamma rays to speed
up the process of plant breeding. Unlike genetic modification, in which a
plant?s genetic makeup is altered, induced mutation accelerates the natural
process of a plant?s spontaneous changes.

The IAEA said that for decades, it has been helping member-states of the UN
produce higher quantities of safe food through nuclear technology, in
collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The UN agency has already assisted in creating over 3,000 crop varieties of
nearly 200 plant species, including barley that grows at 5,000 meters and
rice that thrives in salty soil.

In Japan alone, it is estimated that almost $70 million of crops developed
through mutation induction has resulted in a profit of over $62 billion
between 1959 and 2001.

The latest food crisis comes at a time when the earth?s resources are
dwindling, climate change is triggering extreme weather events and the world
is struggling to keep up with energy demand. ?We are reaping the results of
decades of underinvestment in agriculture,? said Qu Liang, director of the
FAO/IAEA Joint Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture.

The IAEA said it believes that inducing mutation will help alleviate the
current food crisis, which is plunging millions?on top of the 850 million
hungry people worldwide?below the poverty threshold of life on less than one
dollar a day.
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