Biotech companies desert international agriculture project

You're playing fair and playing by the rules and not allowing me to cheat! I'm taking my ball and going home!Wah!
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original-guardian

Biotech companies desert international agriculture project

* David Adam
* guardian.co.uk,
* Tuesday January 22 2008



Biotechnology companies developing genetically modified crops have withdrawn from a major international project to map out the future of agriculture, after it failed to back GM as a tool to reduce poverty and hunger.

The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development aims to focus attention on the problem of how to feed the world's growing population, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has done for the challenge of global warming. Monsanto, Syngenta and BASF resigned after a draft report from the project highlighted the risks of GM crops and said they could pose problems for the developing world.

The companies argue the report should say their GM technology could secure future food supplies because it can boost yields and make plants more resistant to droughts and higher temperatures.

Bob Watson, director of the project, which is based on the work of 4,000 scientists and experts from around the world, said he was "very disappointed" by the companies' move.

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