AMA decries ‘lies’ vs biotech

The American Medical Association (AMA) has accused opponents of biotechnology and genetically modified food and plant products of capitalizing on public ignorance in the latter’s campaign to discredit the said products.

The AMA is on a direct collision course with the British Medical Association (BMA) in the global debate on biotechnology and GMOs. The BMA has warned of possible risks from the use of these products.

In a position paper, the AMA said "opponents of GM food understand that diminished understanding and lack of knowledge is the key to obstructing biotechnology."

The group lamented the results of a survey in Europe "which showed that many European consumers believe that eating GM foods would alter their own genes, while almost a half of the respondents believed that conventional breeding techniques are as effective as transgenic (biotechnology) techniques."

The gene-altering myth is similar to propaganda used in the Philippines by opponents of biotechnology. Farmers were reportedly told by anti-GMO groups that ingesting biotech food products could cause homosexuality and mental retardation.

The US doctors’ group blamed the mishandling of the mad cow disease issue on the negative public view on biotechnology in Europe. "The intensive negative media coverage of the disease and a resulting lack of trust in regulatory procedures have focused attention on the safety of GM foods," the AMA said.

"The current public mistrust of science, expert opinion and agriculture that exists in the UK cannot be underestimated," the AMA noted.

The BMA position on biotechnology has been adopted by Europe-based pressure group Greenpeace in its fight against the domestic propagation of GM plants in the Philippines. Local Greenpeace campaigners have warned the country that the use of the technology "will lead to millions of dead bodies and sick children, cancer clusters and deformities".

Greenpeace recently stepped up its campaign in the Philippines following the government‚s approval for the domestic propagation of the high-yielding pest-resistant Bt corn variety.

The local scientific community, however, has adopted a position similar to the AMA. Scientists led by experts from the University of the Philippines in Los Banos have called on the Arroyo government to adopt biotechnology as the anchor of the country’s program for food security and sufficiency.

The position of the Filipino scientific community supporting agricultural biotechnology was backed by the Philippine Maize Federation, Inc., the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business Council of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.