NGOs Applaud United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Biotechnology Report

More than 40 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and stakeholders in civil society from around the world have signed an Open Letter to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) supporting FAO's new report in favor of using agricultural biotechnology to help meet the needs of the poor and undernourished.

Churchville, VA (PRWEB) July 16, 2004 -- More than 40 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and stakeholders in civil society from around the world have signed an Open Letter to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) supporting FAO's new report in favor of using agricultural biotechnology to help meet the needs of the poor and undernourished.

The signatories to the Open Letter supporting the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are from countries in both the North and the South, including India, Pakistan, Nigeria, South Africa, Canada, the U.S., and European countries in both the East and the West.

This broad support for biotechnology on behalf of the poor contrasts with some groups opposed to biotechnology. Those groups expressed their dissatisfaction with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report in an Open Letter released in June of this year.

Far from "abandoning the poor," as those groups have suggested, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report is specifically focused on how agricultural biotechnology can best be used to meet the needs of the poor and malnourished.

Both the Open Letter and the UN report acknowledge that "while there are potential risks from the use of agricultural biotechnology, the potential benefits are both large and greatly needed, given the challenges humanity faces in feeding a larger, more affluent population from an already limited land and resource base."

The Open Letter in support of the UN report applauds the agency for a balanced and reasoned document and for moving the debate about agricultural biotechnology beyond polarizing rhetoric toward the question of how best to apply that technology to help feed needy populations.

To view the Open Letter and see the list of current signatories, please visit: http://www.internationalconsumers.org/faoletter.htm

For additional information, please contact:

Frances B. Smith

Executive Director

Consumer Alert

1001 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 1128

Washington, DC 20036

202-467-5809

Fax: 202-467-5814

http://www.consumeralert.org

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