5 Six points from the last FAO report can be cited here, acclaimed by the Brazilian press as a 'demonstration' that transgenic food is safe because it is supposed to help solving the problem of hunger in the world: 1. A greater research effort is necessary, because the ecological impacts on tropical regions have been evaluated for very few GMOs. 2. Regulatory landmarks need to be reinforced and rationalized to ensure that the environment and public health are protected and that procedures are transparent, predictable and based on science. 3. The handling strategy should include the avoidance of transgenic cultivation in centers of diversity or wherever there are related wild species, or establish buffer zones between cultivations. 4. There is a consensus that the liberation in the environment of GMOs should be compared with other agricultural practices and technological options. 5. There are still no evaluation methods for the environmental impacts at the international level, while the establishment of methodologies for the different eco-systems is necessary. 6. The absence of negative effects observed until now does not signify that they cannot occur, since much still remains unknown. FAO, Agricultural biotechnology: meeting the needs of the poor? Roma, May 2004.
