The GM controversy is blocking the development and implementation of novel, environmentally-favourable agricultural innovations/products
- Author
- Dulce De Oliveira (UGent) and Marc Van Montagu (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- In what degree global warming observed is due to anthropogenic factors, is intensely debated. But it is certainly important to curb the emissions of greenhouse gases. It is also a fact that classical petroleum-based energy production will have to be replaced. Biofuels were proposed as possible solutions. The approach taken by Brazil on sugar-based alcohol production is quite positive. The US approach using starch for alcohol production is more questionable. European fermentation industries such as Novozymes, Genencor/Danisco and DSM made good progress using cellulose (agriculture waste) for alcohol production. The anti-biofuel action will however make that factories will be constructed in the US and China rather than in Europe. The use of lignine as biomass for electricity production looks very promising, but this will need that society understands the importance of Genetically Manipulated (GM) trees. Electrical cars can indeed be more economically justified than huge infrastructure development for ethanol distribution. For trucks and heavy transport however, bio-diesel has a chance. Again, only if through genetic engineering we construct non-toxic oil crops, grown in a sustainable way. We should also not forget that our entire chemical industry is petroleum-based. Here we surely have to replace all further polymer as well as the basic production of chemicals by biomass as raw material. There are simply no alternatives. So, it is urgent that the public sector scientists explain to society and decision-makers that our economy and environment need GM crops. This is the only possibility to obtain high-yielding biological agriculture in the coming decades. The 100 Mi ha GM crops yearly grown today have shown that, contrary to the disinformation spread by the anti-science movements, this approach is much less hazardous for health and environment than traditional agriculture. The innovations now developed into novel crops will allow much higher yield on the same surface of arable land. This then brings a technological approach for the great challenge: growing industrial crops, double the food production and save what still exists as tropical forest and “pristine” nature.
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-2125288
- MLA
- De Oliveira, Dulce, and Marc Van Montagu. “The GM Controversy Is Blocking the Development and Implementation of Novel, Environmentally-Favourable Agricultural Innovations/Products.” Developing Countries Facing Global Warming : A Post-Kyoto Assessment, edited by Morgan De Dapper and Daniëlle Swinne, Koninklijke Academie voor Overzeese Wetenschappen (KAOW) = Académie royale des sciences d’outre-mer (ARSOM), 2010, pp. 55–63.
- APA
- De Oliveira, D., & Van Montagu, M. (2010). The GM controversy is blocking the development and implementation of novel, environmentally-favourable agricultural innovations/products. In M. De Dapper & D. Swinne (Eds.), Developing countries facing global warming : a post-Kyoto assessment (pp. 55–63). Brussels, Belgium: Koninklijke Academie voor Overzeese Wetenschappen (KAOW) = Académie royale des sciences d’outre-mer (ARSOM).
- Chicago author-date
- De Oliveira, Dulce, and Marc Van Montagu. 2010. “The GM Controversy Is Blocking the Development and Implementation of Novel, Environmentally-Favourable Agricultural Innovations/Products.” In Developing Countries Facing Global Warming : A Post-Kyoto Assessment, edited by Morgan De Dapper and Daniëlle Swinne, 55–63. Brussels, Belgium: Koninklijke Academie voor Overzeese Wetenschappen (KAOW) = Académie royale des sciences d’outre-mer (ARSOM).
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- De Oliveira, Dulce, and Marc Van Montagu. 2010. “The GM Controversy Is Blocking the Development and Implementation of Novel, Environmentally-Favourable Agricultural Innovations/Products.” In Developing Countries Facing Global Warming : A Post-Kyoto Assessment, ed by. Morgan De Dapper and Daniëlle Swinne, 55–63. Brussels, Belgium: Koninklijke Academie voor Overzeese Wetenschappen (KAOW) = Académie royale des sciences d’outre-mer (ARSOM).
- Vancouver
- 1.De Oliveira D, Van Montagu M. The GM controversy is blocking the development and implementation of novel, environmentally-favourable agricultural innovations/products. In: De Dapper M, Swinne D, editors. Developing countries facing global warming : a post-Kyoto assessment. Brussels, Belgium: Koninklijke Academie voor Overzeese Wetenschappen (KAOW) = Académie royale des sciences d’outre-mer (ARSOM); 2010. p. 55–63.
- IEEE
- [1]D. De Oliveira and M. Van Montagu, “The GM controversy is blocking the development and implementation of novel, environmentally-favourable agricultural innovations/products,” in Developing countries facing global warming : a post-Kyoto assessment, Brussels, Belgium, 2010, pp. 55–63.
@inproceedings{2125288,
abstract = {{In what degree global warming observed is due to anthropogenic factors, is intensely debated. But it is certainly important to curb the emissions of greenhouse gases. It is also a fact that classical petroleum-based energy production will have to be replaced. Biofuels were proposed as possible solutions. The approach taken by Brazil on sugar-based alcohol production is quite positive. The US approach using starch for alcohol production is more questionable. European fermentation industries such as Novozymes, Genencor/Danisco and DSM made good progress using cellulose (agriculture waste) for alcohol production. The anti-biofuel action will however make that factories will be constructed in the US and China rather than in Europe. The use of lignine as biomass for electricity production looks very promising, but this will need that society understands the importance of Genetically Manipulated (GM) trees. Electrical cars can indeed be more economically justified than huge infrastructure development for ethanol distribution. For trucks and heavy transport however, bio-diesel has a chance. Again, only if through genetic engineering we construct non-toxic oil crops, grown in a sustainable way. We should also not forget that our entire chemical industry is petroleum-based. Here we surely have to replace all further polymer as well as the basic production of chemicals by biomass as raw material. There are simply no alternatives. So, it is urgent that the public sector scientists explain to society and decision-makers that our economy and environment need GM crops. This is the only possibility to obtain high-yielding biological agriculture in the coming decades. The 100 Mi ha GM crops yearly grown today have shown that, contrary to the disinformation spread by the anti-science movements, this approach is much less hazardous for health and environment than traditional agriculture. The innovations now developed into novel crops will allow much higher yield on the same surface of arable land. This then brings a technological approach for the great challenge: growing industrial crops, double the food production and save what still exists as tropical forest and “pristine” nature.}},
author = {{De Oliveira, Dulce and Van Montagu, Marc}},
booktitle = {{Developing countries facing global warming : a post-Kyoto assessment}},
editor = {{De Dapper, Morgan and Swinne, Daniëlle}},
isbn = {{9789075652475}},
language = {{eng}},
location = {{Brussels, Belgium}},
pages = {{55--63}},
publisher = {{Koninklijke Academie voor Overzeese Wetenschappen (KAOW) = Académie royale des sciences d'outre-mer (ARSOM)}},
title = {{The GM controversy is blocking the development and implementation of novel, environmentally-favourable agricultural innovations/products}},
year = {{2010}},
}