Golden Rice Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Lord Skelmersdale
Main Page: Lord Skelmersdale (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)Department Debates - View all Lord Skelmersdale's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(10 years, 7 months ago)
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Lord De Mauley
My Lords, I say a very strong yes to every aspect of the noble Lord’s question. I will also say that what the opponents of this technology have done and are doing is a cause of huge disappointment. We have consistently said that we will need all the tools in the box to feed the global population as it grows to 2050. To deny this will be to deny desperately poor people in developing countries a nourishing diet, and potentially life itself.
Lord Skelmersdale (Con)
My Lords, does my noble friend accept that there is no real difference between genetically modified crops and F1 hybrids, which have been with us for decades?
Lord De Mauley
My noble friend is entirely right that there are a large number of technologies, of which GM is but one, all of which are what I describe as tools in the box.