Governments must invest in biotechnology research to help poor farmers, and the public and private sectors must work as partners. The potential of the new agricultural technologies is enormous, particularly for the poor in developing countries. Condemning agricultural biotechnology for its potential risks without considering the alternative risks of prolonging the human misery caused by hunger, malnutrition, and child death is as unwise and unethical as blindly pursuing this technology without the necessary biosafety. The writer is director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute. He contributed this comment to The Washington Post.
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