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LONDON (AFP) - Britain's Prince Charles spoke out against the dangers of scientific tampering with nature in a controversial lecture broadcast on BBC radio.
The heir to the British throne fired a broadside at scientists who seek to explain away the natural world with rational argument, ignoring the spiritual and religious elements that demand a different approach. "We need to rediscover a reverence for the natural world, irrespective of its usefulness to ourselves, to become more aware of the relationship between God, man and creation," the prince said.
In his lecture, Prince Charles, who runs a successful organic farm at his estate in western England, took a swipe at biotechnology and the increasing trend of reducing the natural world to a mechanical process. "We should show greater respect for the genius of nature's designs, rigorously tested and refined over millions of years," the prince said.
"This means being careful to use science to understand how nature works, not to change what nature is, as we do when genetic manipulation seeks to transform the process of biological evolution. Only by rediscovering the essential unity and order of the living and spiritual world will we avoid the disintegration of our overall environment," he concluded.
Prince Charles has on more than one occasion taken ultra-conservative positions opposed to modernization, be it on matters of science or architecture. The prince, who has shown a deep interest in the world's religions, drew up the 2,300-word text, delivered as one of BBC radio's Reith lectures, during a recent pilgrimage to a remote Greek Orthodox monastery.
The lecture came on the day Britain's agriculture ministry announced that large quantities of genetically-modified oilseed rape had been sown unwittingly on around 600 British farms because of a mix-up by a Canadian seed exporter.
The GM mix-up infuriated environmental campaigners. Friends of the Earth food campaigner Adrian Bebb said: "We have described genetically-modified food as a gigantic experiment with human health and the environment. This latest scandal proves just how right we were." British consumers, too, are increasingly skeptical about GM foods and sales of organic products have rocketed, with demand often outstripping supply
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