The Food and Agriculture Organization is holding a 4-day conference in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, with a focus on agricultural biotechnologies in developing countries. The conference has drawn criticism from farmers and environmental groups for its favorable stance towards genetically-modified crops.
The four companies that hold the patents on biotech seeds tout the technology as a solution to world hunger.
Pat Mooney, Executive Director of the non-profit ETC group, was on the conference’s international steering committee until he resigned in protest a few days ago over what he says is a bias in the conference documentation and a lack of space for opposing viewpoints.
Mooney said he’s particularly concerned about the position of the Mexican government in light of a recent announcement of 24 field trial of genetically-modified corn. “The fear here” said Mooney “is that Mexico’s going to walk away from this conference saying ‘well, we brought the international community to Mexico, to the center of diversity for corn and everyone thought that biotech was lovely’. And so they can walk away saying that now they’ve got the approval of the United Nations for what they’re doing.”
Groups critical of the biotech industry’s role in agriculture have gathered in Guadalajara to hold parallel events. Participation in the FAO conference itself is by invitation only.
