GM is the word the world is embracing tightly now. It is not General Motors
but Genetically Modified. Countries across the world are now rushing to
embrace genetically modified crops to tackle their food crisis.

China is the best example for this now. In a mountainous place like Yunnan
in China, and in many other parts of the developing world, research in GM
crops is progressing. It can tip the balance between hunger and a decent
living. China now is ready to tip that scale in favor of genetically
modified crops.

Surging costs, population growth, drought and other setbacks linked to
global climate change are pressuring world food supplies, while soaring
prices on the street have triggered riots and raised the number of people
going hungry to more than 923 million, according to UN estimates.

With food demand forecast to increase by half by 2030, the incentive to use
genetic engineering to boost harvests and protect precious crops from
insects and other damage has never been greater.

In Europe, Africa and Asia, governments that have resisted imports of
genetically modified foods and banned growing such crops are watering down
those restrictions. Meanwhile, they are pushing ahead faster with their own
research, despite lingering questions over the safety of such technology.

Influential voices around the world are calling for a re-examination of the
GM debate. Biotechnology provides such tools to help address food
sustainability issues.

Genetic manipulation to insert desirable genes or accelerate changes
traditionally achieved through crossbreeding can help make crops resistant
to insects and disease or enable them to tolerate herbicides. Livestock
similarly can be altered by inserting a gene from one animal into the DNA of
another.

Many researchers think such methods are essential for a second green
revolution, now that the gains from the first, in the mid-20th century, are
tapering off.

Bioengineered crops are widely grown in Canada, Argentina and the United
States, where nearly all soybeans, most cotton and a growing proportion of
corn are designed for tolerance to herbicides or resistance to insects. A
virus-resistant GM variety of papaya is commercially grown in Hawaii and
China.

Beijing is on the verge of releasing an insect-resistant rice variety soon.

Vietnam is pushing ahead with an ambitious program to develop commercial GM
crops to reduce reliance on imports. In May, South Korea, which already
imports GM soybeans, began importing bioengineered corn to help bridge
shortfalls of conventional corn after China began limiting its exports.

Brazil?s National Biosafety Commission recently approved two new varieties
of genetically modified corn seeds, after giving the green light two years
ago for GM varieties of soybeans. India has tripled acreage of GM cotton,
the only bioengineered crop it allows.

In Africa, where governments sometimes have rejected food aid shipments
containing GM grains, South African scientists have completed field tests of
a potato developed to fend off tuber moths. They also recently approved
trials of sorghum genetically enhanced to improve the digestibility and
nutritional content of the coarse grain, which thrives in arid soils.
www.checkbiotech.org