Sir, - Your feature on organic foods (January 16th) stated that they have no proven nutritional or taste advantages over conventional foods. This is hardly surprising since, as every second-level biology student knows, the nutrition of plants, wherever or however grown, is entirely inorganic. But this will not deter the comfortably-off organic foodies from continuing to make fashion statements, waste their money and feel virtuous about it, all at the same time.
The horticulturalist Dr David Robinson stated recently in The Farmers' Journal that the main deficiency in the Irish diet, especially in poor families, was the lack of sufficient fruit and vegetables. Due to their higher cost, poor families don't buy organic produce. Development of the organic sector will be of no benefit to those who most need fruits and vegetables, i.e. disadvantaged city dwellers.
The organic growers' organisations in Ireland (backed by the EU) ban their members from using genetically-modified (GM) plant varieties. The pro-organic, anti-GM activists have been aptly (if inelegantly) described by Keith Hammond of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation as "full-bellied food [production] bashers".
The FAO strives for global food security, particularly for the billions of people who are dependent on rice for their staple food. Of these, some 800 million are chronically malnourished, mainly due to the low vitamin A content of rice. However, GM technology can now transfer the gene for vitamin A (B-carotene) from daffodils to rice. Will the "fullbellied" be telling Filipino mothers of malnourished children that they should be denied the benefits of such advances? - Yours, etc.,
Con O'Rourke, Park Lane, Sandymount, Dublin 4.