When Scientists Turn Against Science:Exceptionally Flawed Analysis of Plant Breeding Technologies

Kesavan and Swaminathan have written three articles in 2018 dealing with the issues of food and nutritional security, sustainable agriculture and climate change, and provided in their own words a ‘proactive analysis’ of the available breeding technologies to meet these challenges. Almost every important issue related to agriculture has been touched upon. However, these reviews neither accurately state the history of plant breeding nor make any evidence-based analysis of the new developments in the area of genomics and genetic engineering to meet some of the critical challenges in crop breeding. The authors’ averments on genetically engineered (GE) crops completely align them with the position of overzealous environmentalists and ideologues, who have been campaigning against the use of GE technologies in crop breeding. The authors have distorted the history of plant breeding, rejected emerging consensus on the safety of GE crops, and suggested solutions that are grossly inadequate to meet the challenge of low-input, high-output agriculture. I analyse here most of the themes that the abovementioned two authors have addressed and provide reasoning for a complete rejection of their analysis.