Louise Fresco, Assistant Director-General, FAO Agriculture Department, gave a presentation entitled "Which road do we take?: Harnessing genetic resources and making use of life sciences, a new contract for sustainable agriculture" at a Conference entitled "Towards sustainable agriculture for developing countries: Options from life sciences and biotechnology" organized by the European Commission on 30-31 January 2003 in Brussels, Belgium. She indicated that in biotechnology we are currently witnessing a "molecular divide", where "the gap is widening between developed and developing countries, between rich and poor farmers, between research priorities and needs, and above all between technology development and actual technology transfer". She concluded that "biotechnology must be redirected to address the pressing needs of the poor and the new requirements for food quality and quantity and new agricultural products, by complementing existing techniques and holistic agronomic approaches to sustain production and manage risks. Our three principles (promote an open dialogue, redirect research [to respond to key challenges], ensure fair access and benefit-sharing) should form the basis of a new, broad-ranging social contract, between North and South, between public and private research, between scientists and citizens - to bridge the molecular divide". See the full 8-page text (in English) at http://www.fao.org/biotech/docs/fresco.pdf, a news story about the presentation (in English, French or Spanish) at http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/13960-en.html or contact FAO to request a copy by e-mail.

07/03/2003