'I know of no time which is lost more thoroughly than that devoted to arguing on matters of fact with a disputant who has no facts but only very strong convictions' (Simon, 1996). The comment aptly summarizes a common experience (including my own) in dealing with technophobes. In one sense, the genetic manipulation (GM) debate can only be conducted on a level in which the participants are prepared to enlarge their knowledge and refine their views accordingly. I consequently have tried in this article to provide plenty of facts that can be used in discussion with reasonable participants. My recommendation is to forget those who are not prepared to modify in any way a prepared (i.e. ideological) position. My own view of GM is that its primary use to mankind must come initially in helping to solve fundamental problems that currently present themselves. These outstanding problems concern population, global warming, and biodiversity. In a longer version of this article I have tried also to provide some critique of current trends toward placing ecological views into agriculture in the hope of generating reasoned discussion. The full version of this article is on my web site (www.ed.ac.uk/~ebot40/main.html). All the information below can be obtained from the referenced articles, although I have not always indicated where.