The British premier Gordon Brown wrote a letter to his G8 colleagues, calling for the use of GM crops to be reconsidered for the sake of resolving food shortages, since food prices are steeply rising due to competition for crops as agrofuels. GM crops to comabt hunger? Does this sound familiar? And do we really need more examples to explain that hunger is not a problem of in-efficient crops, but a problem of access to food?

Since it became common knowledge that fossil oil supplies won't stretch endlessly, a hectic search started for other sources of oil. Especially the debate about so-called 'biofuels' or 'agrofuels' was high on the agenda in the last months, even though problems become obvious. GM agrofuels will also bring their own problems.

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) affects about 40% of the world population. Many of those affected from vitamin and mineral deficiencies (VMD) appear to have enough to eat but still regularly miss vitamins and micronutrients such as iron, iodine or calcium in their diet. VAD especially affects small children and pregnant or breastfeeding mothers, resulting in higher suspectibility to other diseases and irreversible blindness. VAD can be combated with a variety of food and medicine-based approaches, including house gardens, increased food diversity, food fortification and medical vitamin A supplementation. Promising results come from countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Nepal and the Philippines, where the irreversible blindness of children could be eliminated.

In many countries population pressure, natural disasters, and changing climate conditions demand an urgent solution to the problem of food security. Genetic engineering claims to offer promising solutions, but is this a technology that can be applied with trust – and if so, under what conditions? Within the framework of the Dutch government debate on the subject, and under the auspices of the Terlouw Commission, we set up an international debate in which we invited an international audience to share their ideas and insights with us around the issue of biotechnology. We were especially interested to listen to “Southern Voices”. For that reason, the readership of the “Biotechnology and Development Monitor” was approached to participate. The reader ship consists primarily of policy makers in the public sector; scientists; industrial, farmers’ and consumers’ organizations; environmental and other non-governmental organizations; and university students in developing and industrialized countries. Other possible participants were approached through a variety of networks.