Output
Green Mondays: May 2013
"The corporate community should now embrace GM crops and food"
Arrive: 5:30pm / Start 6:00pm / Networking: 8:15pm / Close: 9:30pm
13th May 2013
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
City Gate House
39-45 Finsbury Square
London
EC2A 1PQ
Event overview:
On the 13th May, in another Green Mondays first, the crowd will come together and debate the motion:
"The corporate community should now embrace genetically modified crops and food"
We'll consider the Genetic Modification (GM) of crops and food in the context of other tools aimed at combatting growing stress in key commodity markets and establish the business community's position.
With the perfect storm of a rising population and declining food yields, GM is once again appearing on the radar of both business and wider-society. Jonathon Porritt and Tony Juniper have recently stated their minds are 'not closed' to GM and Mark Lynas, previously a self-professed standard-bearer for the anti-GM movement has now turned full circle, stating:
"GM is an important technological option which can be used to benefit the environment"
Anecdotal evidence suggests, whilst most businesses are unwilling to publicly support GM, many are privately taking more open positions. And, if a member of the UK government is correct in asserting that one trillion GM meals have now been eaten without adverse health effect, is it time to bring it in from the cold?
However, rising imports of non-GM soya in the EU, the proposed introduction of GM-labelling laws in 24 US states and a moratorium on the growing of GM-crops in China certainly don't suggest any softening of attitudes in the market or amongst policy-makers.
And with continued concerns that GM has the potential to contaminate the food chain, plus unease over the degree of control being handed to a small number of large corporations, is GM a discredited technology diverting attention and resource from systems proven to deliver benefits and increase production?
We believe the importance of this debate goes far beyond GM. It touches on the role technology has to play in solving social and environmental problems, and how society balances the risk of action against the risk of inaction. Nuclear fuel, nanotechnology, fracking, artificial meat and geoengineering can be added to the list.
As Anthony Kleanthaus explains in the latest edition of Green Futures, picking sides on GM is not as easy as it used to be and May’s debate will not be a black & white one. Our expert panel, facilitated by Tom Heap, will give space to absolute positions alongside shades of grey, and use voting technology to establish the perceived importance of GM alongside other solutions to the perfect storm.
It's an important and timely debate.