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GM food disastrous - Charles
13/08/2008 10:46 - (SA)
London - The widespread development of genetically modified crops risks leading to the worst environmental "disaster" ever, Prince Charles said in an interview published on Wednesday.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, the Prince of Wales added that relying on "gigantic corporations" for food production, rather than small farmers, would lead to an "absolute disaster".
"What we should be talking about is food security not food production - that is what matters and that is what people will not understand," the heir to the throne was quoted as saying.
"And if they think it's somehow going to work because they are going to have one form of clever genetic engineering after another then again count me out, because that will be the biggest environmental disaster of all time."
His comments come amid rising concerns worldwide over rapidly rising food prices - the World Bank estimates that food prices have almost doubled over the past three years, and its president Robert Zoellick has said two billion people are affected by the food crisis.
The prince insisted he did not want to turn back the clock, telling the newspaper: "It's not going backwards. It is actually recognising that we are with nature, not against it. We have gone working against nature for too long."
- AFP
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