Vatican okays GM food
2002-12-17 15:55
Vatican - A top Vatican official said on Tuesday that genetically modified foods could be used to feed the world's hungry, including in Zambia, which has rejected US food donations because of fears such products could be harmful.
Archbishop Renato Martino, who until recently represented the Holy See at the United Nations, was asked about the issue at a news conference about John Paul's annual world peace message.
"I lived 16 years in America and I ate what came from the market, what was given to me," including, he said, genetically modified foods. "So far I have had no ill effects."
Noting that some starving people were reduced to eating grass, Martino said that "he wouldn't make such a big deal" about food being genetically modified. "When you're hungry you eat everything."
He contended that the controversy was more "political than scientific".
Now head of the Vatican's council dealing with social issues, Martino offered a reflection from his past. He said that during World War II in Italy he and others ate bread that was made of powdered marble as well as flour to give it substance.
"But we ate it because that's what we had," Martino said. - Sapa-AP
- SAPA