The task of the independent university researcher is thus to seek progress, but with safety. It is to act always as a curb on misinformation and unreason, whatever their source. Biotech crops are already grown around the world. Argentina, for example, has a larger acreage than the United States of America, and India has just ratified the use of Bt cotton. Our prime task is surely to ensure that we reap the benefits of this finest of all human adaptations whilst minimizing the risks.
Biotechnology is no different.
Outright opposition to biotechnology is untenable and must be defeated. Humans have only managed to survive pests and diseases, environmental change and population growth, through their manipulation of crop genetics, from the very first moment, some 10,000 years ago, when an early farmer selected the larger plant and crossbred it with another better-tasting variety. Modern biotechnology is the next vital step to help us to carry on defeating such Malthusian pressures. And, because of its inherent precision, it may even be safer than in the past because traditional crossbreeding could lead to up to 15 per cent of the genome being transferred. By questioning the first so hysterically recent ecohype the other key questions are often lost in the miasma.