The future of transgenic plants in developing countries.
Whatever their own policies may be, developing countries will inevitably be affected by the development of genetically-modified organisms in industrialized countries. While maintaining a cautious attitude, most of these countries wish to keep their options open, thus protecting themselves from the risk of being deprived of future technologies that might allow them to achieve self-sufficiency in food production, to resolve certain problems confronting their most vulnerable populations and to preserve the international competitiveness of their products. Companies should see that it is in their interest to help these countries implement their own policies, notably through an open attitude to industrial property. If the value of genetic engineering is thus confirmed, then it perhaps in this manner that GMOs will earn the legitimacy required to make them acceptable to the people of Northern countries where the majority of solvent markets are located.
Weil
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Cirad, Paris, France. alain.weil@cirad.fr
D000383:Agriculture; D001675:Bioethics; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000639:trends; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics*; D003906:Developing Countries; D017753:Ecosystem; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D011639:Public Opinion