Now they have changed their strategy, saying that biodiversity [in Peru and Bolivia] will be seriously affected, and they have chosen the potato as the spearhead.

…

Since 1950, more than 80 varieties of improved potatoes have been released, the product of two or more intervarietal crosses, and in many of them foreign genetic material has been added to the plants. The safety of Peruvian native potatoes has been tested for more than a century, without anyone being able to show any negative effect and, on the contrary, the positive results are countless.

It is estimated that hundreds of crosses can be made to arrive at a desired variety, and sometimes all of them are unsuccessful. Genetic engineering, which activists fight so obsessively, is drastically shortening this period and preventing many years of sometimes unsuccessful work from being lost.

[Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Spanish and has been translated and edited for clarity.]

Read the original post