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Business Daily: GMOs - from 'Frankenfoods' to Superfoods?

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02/08/2021 GMT

GMOs - from 'Frankenfoods' to Superfoods?

BBC World Service - Business Daily, GMOs - from 'Frankenfoods' to Superfoods?

Can genetically modified foods help reduce malnutrition and effects of climate change?

Since they first appeared in the nineties, GMOs have remained wildly unpopular with consumers, who see them as potentially sinister tools of big agricultural companies. Ivana Davidovic explores if the new scientific developments might make them shed their bad image. 

She visits Norwich in the east of England where professor Cathie Martin has been developing genetically modified tomatoes for decades. One purple variety - unusually high in antioxidants - has shown high cancer-fighting properties in mice and is expected to be approved for sale directly to consumers in the US later this year.

Alex Smith's Alara Wholefoods based in London was licensed by the Soil Association back in 1988 to produce the first Organic certified cereal in the world. He explains why he changed from anti-GMO campaigner to someone who believes this technology could help with the worst effects of climate change.

Rose Gidado, the Assistant Director at the National Biotechnology Development Agency in Nigeria, explains why the country approved the world's first GM cowpea - also known as black-eyed pea - and why gene editing and genetically modifying staple crops could help combat malnutrition.

Marta Messa from the Slow Food movement is particularly concerned about the implications of intellectual property rights behind some of the genetically engineered produce.

And professor Fred Gould, who chaired a large study into safety of GMOs for the National Academy of Sciences in the US, warns that this technology is not a silver bullet for solving all of our environmental and health problems.

PHOTO: Genetically modified tomato created by professor Cathie Martin at the John Innes Centre/Ivana Davidovic/BBC

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