ROME, NOV. 20, 2000 (ZENIT.org).- Ignorance about genetically modified food
is sidetracking the debate on the use of biotechnology, an expert says.

Luigi Rossi of the Institute for New Technologies, Energy and Environment
(ENEA) made this observation during a symposium organized by the Bioethics
Institute of the medical department of the Catholic University of Rome.

Rossi quoted a European survey which found that 40% of the people
interviewed were convinced that only genetically modified tomatoes have
genes: They mistakenly believed that natural tomatoes do not have any genes.

The symposium, coming amid controversy regarding genetically modified
foods, focused on the topic "Biotechnologies: New Frontiers for Bioethics."
The event Saturday attracted Catholic scientists, intellectuals and pastors.

Rossi said he believed that fears about genetically modified foods are
misplaced.

"I think that in industrialized countries, where 1 billion people live, we
are witnessing the spread of singular thought, like New Age, with vertical
characteristics that do not take the problems of the rest of humanity into
consideration," Rossi said. "They do not know how to distinguish between
real and fictitious dangers. The concerns that arise over genetically
modified foods are trivial compared to the real dramas connected with the
hunger and poor nourishment of hundreds of millions of human beings."

Giuseppe Bertoni, director of the Zootechnical Institute of the Catholic
University of the Sacred Heart of Piacenza, said that "if you know
biotechnologies, you do not avoid them."

"There are many misunderstandings and mistakes that give origin to a
negative attitude," Bertoni observed. "The opposition is of an ideological
character, as biotechnologies are considered novelties that are not
natural, forgetting, in fact, that the activity of selection has been
practiced for hundreds of years."

"In 1910, 20 measures of wheat were produced per hectare; today 60 are
produced," Bertoni said. A measure is 46 kilograms. "This is also true for
corn: In 1910, 15 measures were produced per hectare; today, 130. These
improvements in production have taken place especially in the north of the
world, in the United States and European countries, but later they extended
to the whole planet. Therefore, it is possible to ask if the same will not
happen with the new technologies."

Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, the Vatican's permanent observer at the
U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), acknowledged the "enormous
possibilities that they offer in the agricultural field ... [but] it is
necessary to see the concrete benefits and the advantages." He proposed
that restrictive legislation on this matter, recommended by FAO, be applied.

The Vatican representative echoed the advice given by John Paul II to
agricultural workers and cattle raisers on the occasion of their Jubilee on
Nov. 12: "Walk in the furrow of your best traditions, and be open to all
significant developments of the technological era, but jealously guard the
perennial values that characterize you. This is the way to give the world a
future of hope."
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