The need to evaluate the possible threats to bio-diversity. The need to oblige producers to label genetically modified products with “transparency”. And the need to state as honestly as possible whether genetically modified organisms (GMOs) represent “a remedy for world famine or are just another source of profit for the multinationals”. These are just some of the concerns about GMOs that emerge from a report drawn up by a work group on bioethics and bio-technologies set up under the auspices of the Conference of European Churches (KEK), and dedicated to “genetically modified food”. The document points out some of the more problematic characteristics of GMOs. The first is that of a possible threat to biodiversity, in the light of which the European Churches urge the scientific and political community to be “prudent”. The document of the KEK also raises the question of clear labelling of genetically modified products. The Churches ask the European Commission in this regard no longer to permit “genetically modified foodstuffs to be placed on the European market without due labelling”. The Report also devotes evaluation to the “ambiguity of the commercial aspect”. “In spite of the grandiose moral claims about the human and ecological benefits, the technologies used for genetically modified crops are mainly aimed at increasing the profits of the food industries”, to the detriment of the countries of the developing world. The European Churches declare that they “share the apprehensions of numerous Christians about the power of the multinationals to impose their technologies on vulnerable farmers in the southern hemisphere”.
