• The biotechnology home page of the Center for International Development at Harvard University, which features extensive discussion of the role of agricultural biotechnology in the developing world, is at: http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cidbiotech/homepage.htm

  • Full details and proceedings of the meeting, “Ensuring food security, protecting the environment, reducing poverty in developing countries: Can biotechnology help?” — convened by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the US National Academy of Sciences in Washington last month — are at: http://www.cgiar.org/cgnas.htm

  • World Food Prospects: Critical Issues for the Early Twenty-First Century, a new report from the International Food Policy Research Institute, can be found at: http://www.cgiar.org/ifpri/

  • Rural Advancement Foundation International, a Canadian group concerned about the impact of genetically modified foods on biodiversity, is at: http://www.rafi.ca

  • The Biotechnology Industry Organization, which represents the biotechnology industry in the United States, is at: http://www.bio.org

  • A report by the UK Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Genetically Modified Crops: The Ethical and Social Issues, can be found at: http://www.nuffield.org/filelibrary/pdf/gmcrop.pdf

  • Two recent Commentaries in Nature have highlighted aspects of the debate over the use of agri-biotech in developing countries. In “Why Africa needs agricultural biotech”, Florence Wambugu, director of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, argues that there is an urgent need for such technology to counter famine and environmental degradation (Nature 400, 15–16; 1999). In “Much food, many problems”, Anthony Trewavas, of the Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Edinburgh, argues that a new agriculture, combining genetic modification technology with sustainable farming, is our best hope for the future. In the face of “the old enemies of locusts, floods, diseases and pests”, writes Trewavas, diversity in technology is “a strength and a necessity, and not a luxury” (see Nature 402, 231–232; 1999).