Former anti-GMO activist turns advocate

Mark Lynas

By Kim Se-jeong

Until 2009, Mark Lynas, 40, was an activist against genetically modified organisms (GMO). However, since January this year, he has been speaking in favor of GMOs, very publicly.

“I can now say very clearly that being an anti-GMO activist was the biggest mistake of my life. I have contributed to a situation where people are irrationally scared of a technology which will be vital to save millions of lives in the years to come. I have already apologized for this in the U.K., and I again apologize today, this time to the people of Korea. I am sorry,” Lynas said during a forum on GMO held in Seoul Tuesday. He gave his first apology in Oxford, England in January at a conference for farmers.

His visit to Seoul was organized by the Korea Food Security Research Foundation, the organizer of the forum.

His change of mind came while working on his book “The God Species: How the Planet can Survive the Age of Humans” published in 2011. “I changed my mind while I was writing the book in 2009.”

How did he realize he was wrong?

“I changed my mind because I realized that I was denying an obvious scientific reality. This would be the same as denying the reality of climate change,”

Lynas said he was quite surprised by people’s responses.

“I was surprised at how much people were interested in what I am doing,” he said, also mentioning that that action has given him a public role to play, “which I didn’t anticipate (and) I didn’t want to have.”

What he now believes is this: GMO technology is part of the solution to food shortages the world’s growing population is facing.

“Our challenge is to double food production globally: that is, to increase the food we produce by 100 percent, and to do it with less water, less nitrogen and on roughly the same amount of land in 35 years.” The world population is projected to reach 9 billion in 35 years.

Lynas was born in Fiji to a geologist father. He grew up in Peru before moving to the UK. He studied history and political science at the University of Edinburgh. He said he’s always been interested in the environment and human welfare. Between 2009 and 2011, Lynas was an advisor to former President of Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed who says he was forced from office in February last year.

He said it took personal courage and time for him to make his views public, because the subject was controversial and all his friends and colleagues had strong feelings about the subject.

But, “you have to follow your conscience. Sometimes conscience comes before personal relationships. And you stand for what you believe in your principles.”