With each billion that mankind has added to the planet have come technological advances to increase food supply. In the 20th century plant genetics and breeding, and later the green revolution. Each time population growth has been sustained without enormous loss of life through starvation even though crisis often beckoned. For the 21st century, genetic manipulation is our primary hope to maintain developing and complex technological civilisations. When the climate is changing in unpredictable ways, diversity in agricultural technology is a strength and a necessity not a luxury.
Diversity helps secure our food supply.
What about those apocalyptic visions of damage to the environment propounded by green organisations. If these views had any real substance I would share them, but they are totally contrary to all experience. The testing of GM food is exemplary in its detail and takes at least four years. Sir John Krebs, Head of our new Food Standards Agency concluded that GM food is as safe as its non-GM counterpart. If eating foreign DNA and protein is dangerous we have been doing so for all of our lives with no apparent effects.