Such claims are beguiling, but what about the cost when theres a limited international pot from which to fund nutrition?
Gurian-Sherman argues that the costs are so high that efforts should go elsewhere. A new biotechnology crop, he says, could cost up to US$100 million to produce (excluding regulatory costs) while the same crop improved through traditional methods would cost US$1 million. In the case of C4 rice, the development costs are vast, says Sage. “It is extremely expensive work,” he told the AAAS meeting. “In order to create a sustained programme it needs US$10 million a year.” But, he argued, “it’s cheap compared with the benefits”. C4 rice could, he says, increase yield by 50 per cent – and the benefits of that are in the trillions of dollars. The C4 project must therefore be viewed in the long term to understand its benefits. It will take two to three decades to come to fruition but could help solve the food challenges of 2050, he said. So perhaps by 2050, with biosafety frameworks in place, resistance to GM subdued by the growing trouble of world hunger, and comprehensive GM solutions that s
