The UK based Independent Science Panel (ISP) has alleged that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has ignored the implicit message of its own study on backing genetically modified (GM) crops in the global fight against hunger. The panel has charged that contrary to the FAO's claim, GM crops have thus far delivered only negligible benefits to the world's poor. Last week, a report entitled 'The State of Food and Agriculture 2003-04' published by the FAO had pointed that biotech crops could feed the developing countries well but only a few of these countries and crops are reaping the benefits. The report had also noted that a large part of the private-sector investment is concentrated on just four

crops: cotton, maize, canola and soybean while the basic food crops of the poor such as cassava, potato, rice and wheat continues to receive only a little attention from scientists. Commenting on the report by the FAO, the ISP has noted that with the technologies that are on the shelf today yet to reach the poorest farmers' fields, there is very little indication that these trends would change in favour of the poor. The ISP has alleged that the FAO is disingenuous when it calls on countries to develop stronger intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes to promote GM crop research, even as the independent Commission on Intellectual Property Rights has expressed reservations over patent protection for plants and animals. Many developing countries that are World Trade Organisation (WTO) members, particularly the Africa Group, have also expressed similar concerns, joining countless non-governmental and civil society organisations, and some 700 scientists (including ISP members), to call for no patents on living organisms. The ISP has said that the FAO report is unacceptably silent on the transgenic contamination of traditional varieties of maize in Mexico, a centre of origin and diversity of maize; it doesn't discuss biodiversity and food security impacts, let alone the immense implications on cultural and indigenous practices. "The FAO claims that scientists generally agree that current transgenic crops and the foods derived from them are safe to eat. But there are many scientists, ISP members included, who have questioned this premise, and there is increasing evidence that casts doubt on GM food safety," said Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, director of the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS) and member of the ISP. The ISP has called for a global ban on environmental release of GM crops, to make way for agroecology, organic farming and other forms of sustainable agriculture. Further the panel has observed that world hunger today is more a consequence of economic and political forces that hamper distribution, and less one of inadequate food supply. The panel has urged the FAO to focus on issues that could affect agriculture and rural development such as access to land, water, credit and markets, the loss of agricultural biodiversity and the inequities in multilateral policies to seriously help build a world without hunger.