Prince Charles is right to bring these concerns to the world.
The long term effect of altering the natural evolutionary processes could be devastating to such a delicate ecosystem. There should have been more long term research b4 GM technologies started to be pushed upon the world. ............

Matthew Cross, London, UK

His mates - the small farmers going bust is what the disaster is.
Getting so fed up with the small farmers and their hard lives - blah blah.

rch, bath, uk

Some people won't even let starving tramps go through their bins for scraps.
If you don't want GM foods fine, but to others this is the only chance to get fed.
The GM disinformation is astonishing. Many GM crops are engineered to use less pesticides and fertilizers.

Michael, Hong Kong, China

HRH please keep speaking up. GM crops will not only make farmers prisoners of Mansanto but also we will see the evalution of super bugs that will need more and stronger weed killers such as Round Up. Round Up is also manuactured by Mansanto. The answer to food sustainability is not GM crops.

Nick Lough, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Prince wants a rural idyl; paupers just want to eat and GM offers them some hope.

Thomas Denne, Villars, France

GM crops are an unknown - certainly in the long term. GM crops are owned and run by the big companies like Monsanto who COULD hold us all to ransome one day as they will own all the seeds.You cannot harvest and use seeds from GM crops as they are sterile.They must be bought annually. HRH warns us.

julia archer, London, UK

More nonsense from someone who believes in homeopathy. How can we ever expect him to be impartial if he becomes King?

Ganesh Sittampalam, St Neots, United Kingdom

GM = scary - good for you Charles I commend your concern - well done again.

Philip, Nr. Haywards Heath, England

The fact that Prince Charles Windsor continues to gain the 'Oxygen of Publicity' for his half-baked, prejudiced opinions simply because of the accident of his birth is one of the key reasons why the Monarchy should be wound-up &, yes, our elected representatives should cease their Loyalty Oath.

michael, Gainsburgh, England

Prince Chales has the time and the interest to read the small print on GM crops, unlike a lot of cabinet minsters who rely on those to tell them what they want to hear and who have an ulterior motive.

M, Beds,

Charles should explain why GM research has gone 'seriously wrong' and he should try not to confuse possible 'environmental' and 'social' effects. This is just baseless scaremongering and it is a shame that these sensationalist remarks are of the type we hear most often in public scientific debate.

C Slater, Burton upon Trent, UK

Introducing New Technology by Commercial Interests without caution for all the Possible Consequences is the problem. It may well be a Great Thing done correctly, but it should not be irrreversible and untested. Replacing Nature's slower processes might just be the last mistake we make.

Chris, London,

The problem is you can't get the serfs these days. Does His Highness have O level biology or is he talking off the top of his head?

John Ledbury, Kings Lynn, England

Fact: Prince Charles is one of the richest men on Earth and can afford to let us starve.

Let them eat cake!

Roo, London,

Prince Charles should take a lesson from his ma and keep his opinions to himself.

Neil McF, Southampton, England

Well done Charles. We are kidding ourselves if we think we understand all the intricate eco co-dependancies of every species on the planet. Be glad someone with the time, money and passion is willing to argue devils advocate. Get it wrong and we cant change it back. Ever.

Lucas Tatek, Herts., uk

In an extraordinary intervention, Prince Ug claimed that domestication of sheep and goats was "playing God" and "an environmental disaster of pre-Biblical proportions" and suggested that people return to gathering roots and hunting the occasional mammoth. This was "sustainable farming" he claimed.

William, ilkley,

Are some of these posters living life with their heads buried in the sand. The earth cannot sustain "millions of lives" saved! There are far too many people already, that is why there is food shortages!!!!!!!!
Get your heads around the bigger picture!

Pete, St Albans, England

I agree with him. GM food will be a disaster to all sorts of animal species. The reason why our MP’s are for it, is because the companies that own GM crops get massive royalties & pay our MP’s! They encourage poor farmers to take the GM foods & then tell them to pay royalties. It’s all about money.

Elizabeth, London,

as usual he is right these GM companies think they can patent genes. do not for onemoment believe they are motivated by human kindness or concern, they are motivated by good old fashioned all-American greed and they are meddling with things beyond their understanding.

peter c, devizes, wessex

GM is not the answer. Removing the food surplus mountain, idiot despots in starving Africa, and stopping throwing away one third of our food would go a long way to stopping hunger. But no, some US companys want to make a profit. Politians are sleep walking self serving idiots.

Lucas Tatek, Herts., uk

Never mind crops - it's time to do something to improve the royal gene pool!

Andrew Pearson, Belfast, N.I.

The prince is not a scientist and is abusing his position to spout populist nonsense.

Re 4 tons of organic food is better than 8 tons of non-organic food, that's nonsense. There is NO EVIDENCE at all that organic food is nutritionally better. Industrial agriculture is another matter however.

Paul Joseph, London, UK

"Unmentionable awfulness".

If this doesn't tell you everything you need to know with regard to how to treat this man's opinion on anything, seek help chaps

Richard, London,

HRH muddles 2 issues. While collective farming is discredited and intensive farming with herbicides and pesticides proved to be damaging, if GM potatoes resistant to frost and blight and rot, rice resistant to salt, crops that grow out of season etc, these wil save millions of lives.

Roarke, wembley, UK

I think prince Charles has a commendable point of view.

peter, Reading ,

Remember the "Green Revolution" in India and what a disaster it was? The previous comments seem like those of the giant agri-business lobby. Yes, we should all be concerned about the terrible fact that there is a world wide food crisis, but there is every reason to believe that GM won't help!

Karn, Burgess Hill, United Kingdom

So nice that HRH is happy to watch people die of hunger or go blind in Africa when genetic modifications can save lives. Blindingly rich, and completely out of touch. I wonder if he'd be a great organic farmer if he didn't have millions in the bank . . .

Rob, London, UK

To deny methods of growing crops that could end world hunger is a crime!

John, Manchester,

HRH is clueless...does he realy think anyone seriously listens to a word he says?

As teenagers say, he needs to "get a life."

Larry

Larry Saul, Pewsey, UK

Great to see the esteemed Dr. Charles Windsor, PhD, with his tireless years of research on GM crops, producing another well thought-out and robust piece. His flagship publication - "Charging 4 quid for 6 tasty sausages" was pioneering and he is truly an expert in the field.

Tim, Geneva,

So-called GM is only the speeding up of the genetic selection process that has been practised by farmers for thousands of years. The plants and animals that we take for granted for our food today have not evolved; they have been bred. What's all the fuss about?

Michael Smith, Maidehead,

The whole debate's confused. We've genetically modified crops for thousands of years by artificial selection. Traditional farming isn't producing enough, yet it also drives small farmers out!! Charles should know! Large proprietors have ruined the British countryside without GM.

Paul Freeman, London, England

I couldn't agree more, Ed. Organic farming is an incredibly wasteful luxury (if you call the mangy animals and insect ravaged fruit produced by organic methods a luxury!). Fine if you are willing to pay the extra cost, but no way to feed the world.

Tom, London,

As disasters go Prince Charles is probably up there with the best.

Bob, Essex, England

Oh my, how interesting. By the way, can you publish details of Charlies science doctorate? Not his 2:2 from Trinity or his honoury MA from Cambridge. If you could also pass me his data so I can see how he arrived at these conclusions that would be great. What, you mean he's just spouting off? Oh.

Matt, Birmingham, UK

Good on the Prince. and 4 tons an acre of highly nutritious food is far superior to 8 tons of low nutrition food. The 4 ton level will continue for thousands of years under an organic system. Artificially fertilized land loses fertility each year and is "dead" in 100.

victor compton, Cherbourg, France

What happens when the fungus, called Ug99, which has spread from Africa to Iran, and may already be in Pakistan invades British fields? What then for organic farming? The only way to go is GM farming to prevent this. Get a grip, Charlie!

Louis, Liverpool, Uk

Well done Prince Charles, now that we have politicians who lack passion it's good that Prince Charles provides some to the sterile world of modern politics.

Paul Galley, Manchester,

Fact: "conventional" (not even GM) wheat farming yields 8 tonnes per acre. Fact: organic wheat farming yields 4 tonnes per acre. Fact: food shortages on the horizon.

So what exactly is going to cause a disaster?

Ed Zuiderwijk, Cambridge, UK