I understand their concerns. However, there are also risks in NOT taking advantage of the benefits that new technologies may offer. There are 800 million people in the world who are food insecure and do not have that luxury. Poverty and malnutrition are such large, pressing problems that we cannot afford to rule out approaches like biotechnology that demonstrate potentials to benefit humanity. According to Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution, without biotechnology, there is no chance that conventional technology alone can help meet demand for increased food supplies to feed a growing population.
Good efforts are under way.
This workshop is one of them. Part of the resistance to biotechnology arises from a distrust of large corporations and a resistance to globalization. Some feel that biotechnology is suspect because it has been developed largely by the private sector and has found its first uses in developed countries. Mutual trust will require greater transparency among all parties to manage genetic resources. In addition, trust will require greater capacities among developing countries to deal equitably with international or corporate partners, who may have relatively vast experiences with the science, laws, and business of biotechnology.