Europeans have, as is well known, an aversion to genetically modified food, none more so than Prince Charles. Now James Watson, the Nobel-prizewinning scientist jointly credited with the discovery of DNA, has (the Daily Telegraph <a href=”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$5S1PJTNAQX1DTQFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2003/02/08/nprin08.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/02/08/ixhome.html

“>reports) taken him to task:

“It is nothing less than an absurdity to deprive ourselves of the benefits of GM foods by demonizing them; and, with the need for them so great in the developing world, it is nothing less than a crime to be governed by the irrational suppositions of Prince Charles and others. As our society delays in sanctimonious ignorance, we would do well to remember how much is at stake; the health of hungry people and the preservation of our most precious legacy, the environment.”

Watson makes a good point, although, to be fair, it is worth noting that Charles’ ‘organic’ farms do make some very good cookies.