Sir, - One cannot help but wonder if a total lack of a knowledge of history were a prerequisite for those scientists promoting genetically modified foods. Have they never heard of DDT? The same extravagant claims were made, the same promises of an agricultural revolution were given, the same glowing picture of a well-fed world was painted. Do we have to wait for another Silent Spring, another Rachel Carson to describe the horrors that have befallen us? It seems that when commercial greed is twinned with scientific arrogance, then we consumers (and what a dire word that is in these circumstances) have to fight very hard, and very long, to save our world. - Yours, etc., Christopher Bowring-Carr,
Derryvolgie Park, Lisburn, Co Antrim.