Africa/Global: Genetically modified crops will not help the developing world

The arguments for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that have been dinned into us for 15 years are based on an almost sublime misreading of the world's food problems. Without GM, the story has it, famine and increasing deficiency are inevitable, yet present-day deficiencies are almost never caused by an inability to produce enough. Angola is a good example: it is always bordering on disaster, yet it has 2 1/2 times the area of France and every kind of climate, and only 12.5 million people. Its farmers are highly accomplished. Famines result not from inability but from the civil war that raged for 30 years. Behind the claim that GMOs are necessary lies a deep - and racist - failure to appreciate traditional farming.