The Catholic Church found itself on the wrong side of science when it condemned Galileo’s heliocentric solar system in 1616, for which it apologized 380 years later. Could that embarassing about-face have been on the minds of some Pontifical Academy of Science members, when they issued a 15-page statement (PDF) this week giving their blessing to genetically modified (GM) crops?
Perhaps not, but the statement clearly casts genetic engineering (GE) as a benevolent application of science and technology, with few drawbacks. “There is nothing intrinsic about the use of GE technologies for crop improvement that would cause the plants themselves or the resulting food products to be unsafe,” the statement says.
The statement came out of a May 2009 meeting sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. It is a follow-up to a 2000 document that also came out in favour of GM crops, though more provisionally. Since then, peer reviewed research and experience growing GM crops has made them even more appealing, according to the statement.
GM crops such as insect resistant maize have resulted in greater yields and less pesticide use; a boon to poor farmers. Crops such as Golden Rice, which is fortified with a precursor of vitamin A, could help combat vitamin A deficiency. Meanwhile drought and flood tolerant crops could help cope with changes brought on by global warming, the statement notes.
The statement also criticized “excessive, unscientific regulation” of GM crops and called on countries to “standardise” and “rationalise” the approval process of new crop varieties. It also called for a rethink of the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety, which allows countries to ban the import of GM crops under some conditions.
The statement, endorsed by the seven members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in attendance as well as 33 other scientists at the meeting, also casts aside concern that GM crops amount to playing you know who. “[N]ew human forms of intervention in the natural world should not be seen as contrary to the natural law that God has given to the Creation,” it says.
The headline of this story has been revised to clarify that the Vatican did not endorse the statement supporting GM crops, while the text has been updated to emphasize that the statement was backed by some members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, but not all of them. A story from the Catholic News Service does a good job clarifying the matter.
Image of Pope Benedictus XVI courtesy of Wikimedia Commons