ANALYSIS:At the BioVision 2008 conference in Egypt, delegates have called for life sciences to be deployed in the global fight against hunger, writes Mary Fitzgerald, Foreign Affairs Correspondent.
THE ISSUE OF rising food prices was never far off the agenda at the BioVision 2008 conference in the Egyptian city of Alexandria last week, and proved the dominant theme in sessions held by the European Action on Global Life Sciences (Eagles) initiative.
A food symposium, organized by Eagles and funded by the European Commission, was held as part of the wider BioVision conference, where scientists, academics and development experts met to discuss ways in which the life sciences can be harnessed to tackle problems in the developing world.
Delegates at the Eagles symposium considered how European programmes on food, agriculture and biotechnology are meeting the challenges of food sufficiency, security, quality and safety in developing and emerging countries.
The Eagles initiative aims to enhance collaboration between researchers in Europe and the developing world to fight hunger and disease. It includes scientific partners in Europe, China, Egypt, Ghana, South Africa and the Philippines.
Several representatives from Ireland took part in the food symposium, including Eagles co-vice chairman Prof David McConnell from the Smurfit School of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, Patrick Cunningham, professor of animal genetics at Trinity and also the Government's chief science advisor, Jim Flanagan, president of the European Association for Animal Production, and Tom Arnold, chief executive of Concern and chair of the European Food Security Group.
In a statement issued as the symposium concluded, members of the Eagles initiative noted how scientists from the developing world had made clear that they are "dismayed and even horrified at the persistent failure of Europe to deploy its life sciences effectively" in the battle against hunger.
"Our Asian, African and Latin American colleagues have said that they simply cannot understand why . . . on the continent of Darwin and Pasteur, the voices of science and reason have been devalued," the statement said.
Noting that the Alexandria meeting took place against the background of the greatest crisis in food security in 40 years, the statement said life scientists everywhere have a responsibility to address such global challenges.
Stepping into the food-versus-fuel debate, the Eagles group criticised the diversion of traditional food crops to energy in Europe and other countries.
"There is a compelling argument for Europe to stop using crops, traditionally used for food, as sources of fuel. National and regional policies must be immediately reviewed in this regard," the statement said.
Echoing the words of Swiss chemist and Nobel laureate Richard R Ernst at the conference, it called on countries to "stop burning poor people's food to power rich people's cars".
European life sciences "can and must help to provide new solutions to the energy crisis without taking food from the poor," it added.
The Eagles initiative recommended that no new energy or fuel production system should be introduced in Europe without research that shows it would not have a negative effect on local and global food supplies and security. This research, it said, should be summarised in a "food impact statement".
On climate change, the statement said strategies for dealing with climate change in Europe and elsewhere "have not taken sufficient account" of scientific evidence. "It is vital that Europe rigorously assess the technical and scientific evidence concerning all strategies for mitigating climate change," it added.
At the closing session of the symposium, Eagles co-vice chair David McConnell noted how the issue of genetic modification (GM) had taken up much of the sessions, with many speakers and delegates arguing that European attitudes on GM should be reassessed in light of current challenges.
Dr Huanming Yang, co-vice chair of Eagles (China), told delegates that the rest of the world was "suffering from the European debate" and insisted it was impossible to talk about food security without considering GM.
In its summing up, the Eagles statement claimed that Europe's ability to respond to the hunger crisis is now threatened because European plant sciences have been weakened due to "decades of neglect". Students and researchers, it said, are deserting the plant sciences because they are discouraged by the "collapse of public support and excessive over-regulation".
As a result, it continued, Europe is, for now, a "bystander" to a "revolution . . . that is sweeping through the Americas, Asia and Australia" in which new plant varieties developed using a combination of biotechnology and classical plant breeding now make up a large proportion of world grain, soy and cotton production.