Devinder Sharma is a noted Indian writer, journalist and thinker on food and trade policy. He is well known and respected for his policy work on biotechnology, hunger, food security, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity and intellectual property rights, free trade, development and the environment. Devinder is associated with numerous national and international organisations and civil society groups, and chairs the New Delhi-based Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security. His recent booklet "GM Food and Hunger: a view from the South" was published last month for the World Social Forum at which he chaired the major panel on Food Sovereignty. He speaks on these issues widely and most recently at the launch, in Switzerland, of the 2004 International Year of Rice.

Trained as an agricultural scientist, subsequently working as a Visiting Fellow at the International Rice Research Institute, UEA Norwich and Cambridge University, Devinder has also been the Development Editor of the Indian Express.

Devinder has written many books including "GATT to WTO: Seeds of Despair" and "In the Famine Trap".

In a presentation to UK parliamentarians, he will analyse the implications of GM crops and genetic engineering for developing countries. He will also comment on the clear political signal about the supposed value of genetic engineering that was given by the UK government in its GM policy statement of 9 March. But does the assertion that GM will contribute to future hunger eradication in the South stand up to scrutiny? Devinder will look at the socio-economic causes of hunger and the impact that GM will have on agriculture-based economies in the South.

The UK has a leading role in international development and could use its influence to ensure that developing countries can enact effective legal measures to regulate GM imports and secure legal redress and compensation in the event of negative impacts, as required by the Biosafety Protocol. It could also lead a reorientation of the research agenda towards safe, sustainable agriculture. In this context it is important that policy makers fully understand the needs of the developing world and the potential impact of genetic engineering on production, poverty and hunger.