According to the World Bank, biotech crops could increase food production in the developing world by 25%.
Although StarLink stoked public fears about biotech crops, it has not been shown to cause any health problems.
That creates a giant library of genetic material that could bring a bonanza of new industrial enzymes, new biotech crops and, eventually, new cures.
Biotech crops, including corn and soybeans that have been genetically modified to resist insects or disease, have been widely grown in the US for years.
Kraft also asked for mandatory review of all plant biotech advances by the government and for strengthened requirements for the production and sale of biotech crops.
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Many farmers favor the technology because it allows them to spray herbicide directly over crops to kill weeds and certain biotech crops more easily fight off damaging pests.
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From 1996 to 2010, the shift to biotech crops reduced carbon emissions by 19.4 billion kilograms, the equivalent of removing 8.6 million cars from the road for a year.
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Likewise, although Dow Chemical and DuPont have strong agriculture divisions, companies specializing in agrochemicals and biotech crops increasingly stand alone: look at Monsanto and Syngenta , both of which were spun off from pharmaceuticals firms.
This puts big question marks over the message from biotech companies that GM crops mean automatic advantages for farmers.
But Europeans seem to be taking the attitude that, since there remains the slightest possibility of adverse consequences and since it is not clear how they, as consumers (as opposed to farmers and biotech firms), benefit from GM crops, they would rather not run the risk.
This biotech in a sleepy office park may hold the key to better crops, more efficient biofuels and drugs to cure the most elusive diseases.
For biotech has now shown that there are differences between the molecular biology of sustainably grown crops and those grown using modern agricultural techniques.
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