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1. I am shocked that the Vatican is supporting GM crops. But when I read that Peter Raven had accepted funds from Monsanto it made sense. Money is always a priority!

   Posted By: Sheila Quonoey Springwood NSW

2. The Pontifical Academy of Sciences may have endorsed GM crops, but what of the Academies of humanity.
   Promoting GM crops is one thing, but promoting it in the name of the poor is hardly fair.
   The World Bank continues to report that there is enough food in the world but the problem is in its distribution.
   In other words, the control of food distribution is in the hands of the moneyed and not the starving. GM food relies on the monopolisation of seed markets and thus further disempowers the poor to control their own productions.
   Good stewardship is about respecting the lives of all people and learning how we are to co operate with our envirnment.
   The bible is the story of how people were trampled on by the powerful. Today is no different.

   Posted By: Anne Boronia

3. So Monsanto continues to spread its tentacles, and those who should speak for the poor instead speak the words that money buys.
   The issue for the poor of this world, and for all of us if Monsanto gets its way, is that of patents and the deliberate destruction of genetic variety so to ensure profits. Genetic control of one 'brand' forces all to purchase, and to continue purchasing, from this one company.
   It is the pontifical academy that should be condemned.

   Posted By: MJ.Blue Mountains.NSW.

4. A wise decision. GM crops will allow to feed a world with a hungry and growing population by increasing the productivity of land.
   It will especially help the poor raising the global supply of food whilst, lowering production costs which will lead to a reduction in the prices that the poor pay for food.
   Of course there will be the predictable grumblings from the greeny, 'socially aware' crowd from up in their ivory tower raising straw men like how corporate giants are supposedly crushing third world farmers but in reality its just that they prefer their food to be natural and organic and believe that the poor should replicate their eating habits which the poor could scarcely afford.

   Posted By: NS, Sydney

5. In one of 38 GM articles in the New Scientist, Ingo Potrykus trots out stale news from 2009 about GM and the Pontifical Academy of Science.
   As I detailed in an Opinion (4 02 09) the Academy’s May 2009 Study Week was to be a PR exercise by vested interests, repeating one 24 September 2004 suggesting Catholic endorsement of GM. The 2009 Study Week booklet stated bluntly that it was not a regular science meeting but aimed to counter regulations of the breeding, testing and labeling of transgenic foods, to undermine the precautionary principle and change societal attitudes.
   Speakers at the Study Week are prominent in the fields of economics and legal regulation, not science. In a supposedly Catholic context, the absence of commentators on the dangers inherent in GM foods is of note - Jesuits Roland Lesseps and Peter Henriot, and Columban Sean McDonagh. Also absent are representatives from the peak Catholic body concerned with the poor and development, Caritas International, and Catholic development agencies, such as CAFOD. To claim the plight of the hungry as the major concern of the Study Week is deception. Even Cardinal Martino has changed his previous stance to say that responsibility for the world food crisis is in the hands of unscrupulous people (L’Osservatore Romano 1 Jan 2009). African bishops have criticised the propaganda surrounding GM crops (Instrumentum Laboris for the Synod on Africa on 19 Mar 2009, No. 58). - Strathfield, NSW

   Posted By: Charles Rue

6. When Monsanto has succeeded in convincing the world to change to GM, Monsanto will control the world's food supply i.e. the seeds, farmers' access to seeds, availability (or rather non-availability) of heritage and non-hybrid seeds.
   Why would the Vatican endorse such a scenario?

   Posted By: Janet (Wangi Wangi)

7. Sheila: Maybe Peter Raven supports the use of GM crops because they produce better yields and require less pesticides than non-GM crops. Also, the Missouri Botanical Garden does significant plant research, as such it is hardly surprising that Monsanto would have at some time provided some funding.

   Posted By: Kevin. Brisbane

8. As a scientist and a participant to this Vatican conference, I humbly suggest that the people actually read the statement and at least some of the accompanying papers from the proceedings.
   After that you can still argue about Monsanto and the money, but that will be of no help to anybody.
   regards, P.M.
   The original English statement: http://www.ask-force.org/web/Vatican-PAS-Statement-FPT-PDF/PAS-Statement-English-FPT.pdf
   The Full bibliography of the volume (including open source links) of published papers and statements: http://www.ask-force.org/web/Vatican-PAS-Studyweek-Elsevier-publ-20101130/PAS-Studyweek-NBT-20101130.pdf.
   - Milan, Italy

   Posted By: Piero Morandini

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