GMO technique needed to solve world's hunger problem, says Nobel laureate

The Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) technique is needed to address the issue of global hunger, Nobel laureate scientist Sir Richard Roberts said here on Friday.

Contrary to claims that genetically-modified plants were dangerous, the GMO technique was safer than traditional breeding of plants, he said.

Roberts was in the city to receive the "UDCT Alumni Association-Institute of Chemical Technology Dhirubhai Ambani Lifetime Achievement Award", instituted by the Reliance Industries.

"Over 800 million people across the world, mostly in developing countries, go to bed hungry every night. They need the GMO technique, because this is the best way to improve the crops," he said.

Roberts, a molecular biologist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1993. Currently, he is the chief scientific officer at the University of Sheffield in the UK.

"The reason we need the GMO technique is that most of the developing world's crops have never been improved by plant ...