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Prince Charles Warns of Genetically Modified Crops

by Dave Keating | August 13, 2008 at 12:40 am

529 views | 10 Recommendations | 5 comments

Prince Charles, who has become an active and occasionally outspoken encironmental advocate over the years, has come out with a strong statement against genetically modified food. In fact, he says the use of such crops would be the biggest environmental disaster of all time.

Prince Charles said the widespread use of genetically modified crops would the "biggest disaster environmentally of all time" in a newspaper interview published on Wednesday.

The 59-year-old heir to the throne is well known for his support of organic farming but his comments during an interview with the Daily Telegraph are his most outspoken attack yet on GMO foods.

His views will strike a chord in Britain where biotech crops have faced significant opposition, with concerns centred on both food safety and possible environmental impacts.

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Uwe Paschen

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 03:16 on August 13th, 2008

Good on him!

mchawk

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 14:34 on August 13th, 2008

Dave Keating, I like this story. It's good stuff.

I've heard some of this interview and was impressed by how passionate he was in it. It's a refreshing change for the monarchy to really come-out for a subject.

However, he offered no explanation or proof of this "biggest disaster environmentally of all time," which I thought took the edge off the piece - making it reactionary opinion and not a cogent argument.

I think he might have wasted a perfect opportunity to shape policy. We'll have to see how long this one runs in the press to see if his words have any lasting effect.

enadelascantaletas

at 15:10 on August 13th, 2008

Took this photo at the Taro Festival in Hana, Maui in April this year. People from Maui (particularly this area) are stressing the importance of living off the earth, without any modifications. Maui is by far one of the few places that strongly supports this type of farming, and tries to keep it that way. On top of that, they are dealing with the high turist traffic that is affecting natural streams and ponds, forcing local authorities to close access to these areas.

enadelascantaletas has contributed a photo to this story.