You're right, people are concerned about the quality of the food, the link between food, nutrition, and health. The question of genetic use restriction technology, the GURTs, was significantly debated some years ago. The technology was initially proposed by one company, Monsanto. It was dropped from their technology portfolio.
There is a sense that we need to take societal considerations into account when we invest in science and innovation. It's not just the science that's happening in the lab, but it's also what the market wants at the end of the day. We need to connect the science, the innovation, with market demand, with societal pressures or societal considerations.
In other countries a great deal of work is being done on biotech crops. The Europeans, despite the appearance of a reluctance to embrace GM crops, are patenting plant genes in large amounts.
I think from what's happened in the last ten years, the genetically modified plants are focused more now on industrial plants rather than food plants. I'm interpreting trends here.
The science and innovation strategy that Minister Strahl published emphasizes for the first time that AFC will focus research on the link between food, nutrition, and health. That had never been spelled out like this before. It's one of our seven science priorities.