Tuesday, 13th April 2010
Anti-GM zealots are hurting the hungry - Stevenson
Environmental zealots are preventing European farmers from relieving hunger in developing nations as climate change bites, according to Scots Tory MEP Struan Stevenson.
Mr Stevenson hit out at a conference today on the Future of Farming in the European Parliament in Brussels.
He told delegates - including new Euro Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloş - that rapid population growth in developing nations would increase demand for food by 50% by 2030, but that the world was losing an area the size of the Ukraine in farmland every year due to climate change.
The resulting higher food prices, he said, would be felt most by developing countries, where 820 million people already suffer from hunger.
Despite these threats, however, Mr Stevenson argued that the EU’s “puritanical” approach to regulations and controls was hindering European farmers from helping to find solutions.
Brussels’ attitude to genetically modified crops, he said, was particularly inexplicable as they offered higher yields and resistance to diseases. This, he argued, was important in the context of improving food supply, cutting down on herbicides and pesticides and using less water.
He said:
“Global food production is under threat from land degradation, pollution, desertification and water shortages.
“Europe’s farmers are well placed to provide solutions to many of these problems. We have the land, resources and scientific know-how to help us feed ourselves and feed the world.
“The one thing we don’t have is the political will. Instead of helping our farmers to thrive, we place endless regulatory burdens in their way and then throw open the door to the inferior imports from outside the EU that don’t meet our rigorous standards of hygiene or welfare.
“In addition, the hysterical attitude of environmental zealots towards GM crops has helped to drive many scientists out of Europe, which only helps to benefit our competitors. We need to reopen the debate on GMs.
“For millennia Europe’s farmers have been the guardians of the countryside, but they face unprecedented challenges from a regulatory regime driven by environmental puritans who have little understanding of today’s farmers or countryside.
“Our farmers know how to protect the environment and how to nurture biodiversity. They don't need endless regulations and rules to show them the way.
“The EU needs to reduce the regulatory burden on farmers and ensure they can operate on a level playing field with foreign competitors.”
