ROUND TABLE ON GENETIC ENGINEERING HELD IN ZAGREB

ZAGREB, April 10 (Hina) - The club of scientists and cultural workers who are members of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HNS), on Saturday organised a round table discussion on problems and challenges created by the genetic engineering. The event in Zagreb also drew several guests, who are not members of that political party. The discussion revolved around the impact of the genetic engineering on medicine and food production. The production of genetically modified food and crops is a big business in which multinational companies have invested huge means. Those companies have not enough time to find out whether such production has pernicious effects, whereas underdeveloped countries are mostly exposed for tests of insufficiently examined genetically altered products, a scientist Marijan Jost warned. Areas where genetically altered crops are cultivated have increased. Last year saw 22 million hectares sown with genetically modified crops, primarily with soya, maize and turnip. Adding that it is still unknown how genetically modified food influence the health of people, Jost spoke about an experiment of a scientist, Arpad Puszt. The test showed that guinea pigs fed by genetically altered potatoes grew more slowly and that their vital organs as well as immunity system were damaged. It is high time that achievements of genetic engineering were tested in a scientific and more objective manner, stressed Ljiljana Zergollern speaking of benefits and risks of that activity. She added that genetic engineering had helped to detect some illnesses at their opening stages. However, she said, many questions remain open. Form the ethical point of view, man can ask whether it is permissible to have the cross breeding of two opposite sorts and whether biological diversity has been put at risk by such breeding, wondered Luka Tomasevic. The participants discussed whether it is acceptable to support claims that the production of genetically modified food is the only path under circumstances of a large increase in the population on the Earth. (hina) ms