Adam Smith Institute

So, the Prince of Wales has decided to speak out against GM crops, blaming them for pretty much everything. I have written before against the doomsday lunacy that GM crops provokes. With this latest officious dabble in politics, the Prince of Wales has put himself at the movement’s vanguard.

From his ivory tower, the Prince is able to make the comment: "Look at India's Green Revolution. It worked for a short time but now the price is being paid”. What price is that exactly? For the people of the Punjab, there has been a decline in poverty by 11.52% between 2002 and 2005.

Of course, protecting the environment is important and the Prince’s project to save rainforests is on the whole a noble cause. Yet he fails to see that protecting the environment is where GM crops do so well, as they require far fewer pesticides to return high yields. Thus, GM crops allow practices closer to the Princes own Highgrove estate. Also, for the carbon-crazed: “GM crops need to be tilled less and sprayed less, cutting tractors' fuel use and reducing the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2006 alone, the permanent carbon dioxide savings from reduced fuel consumption since the introduction of GM crops was equal to removing 25 per cent of cars from Britain's roads for a year.”

Progress is not a simple thing. GM crops will not save the world from all the challenges that will be faced. However, they have and will continue to save the lives of countless millions of people from starvation. After all, Horace was quite wrong. Pale death does not knock at the hut of the poor and the towers of kings with impartial step.

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