Talks on biotech foods end at Vatican

VATICAN CITY - Closing a conference on genetically modified food, a top Catholic official said Tuesday that the technology "must not be abandoned."

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said the Roman Catholic Church would not immediately take a position on the issue but would "reflect and evaluate with care" the information provided by the more than 60 experts who took part in its two-day conference on "GMO: Threat or Hope."

"This seminar has made us understand that the field of GMO (genetically modified organisms) must not be abandoned even if there is a need for much vigilance," Martino said at the closing session of the seminar he convened. "Thus work must continue."

No date has been set for the Vatican's decision, and Martino said it could take years.

World hunger is of particular concern to the Vatican, which rejects arguments that its ban on contraception helps fuel food insecurity by promoting larger families.

Participants in the conference included scientists, government ministers, representatives of commerce and industry, the scientific adviser to Greenpeace, ethicists and the chairman of a South African farmers association.

They were divided on whether the benefits of genetic modification of food outweighs potential perils, but those supporting modified foods far outnumbered critics.

Italian Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia, representing the European Union, expressed what appeared to be the view of many of the experts.

"There is no scientific evidence to prove that GMO is dangerous," Sirchia said. "Prudence and caution are needed, but a generalized condemnation of these products, which could offer great prospects in the fight against hunger, is not acceptable."

Doreen Stabinsky, an American plant geneticist who is Greenpeace International's adviser for genetically modified organisms, disagreed. She told reporters that the conference did not hear the case against genetic engineering because the organizers "don't have the right people here to talk about the risks."

"GE technology and the industrial system it maintains increases dependence on expensive farm chemicals and single food crops, denying people a balanced diet and destroying the environment on which we all depend," she said. "It increases dependence on the companies that supply the technology and the countries that supply the loans to pay for it."

- Information from Religion News Service and the Associated Press was used in this report.

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