Japan urged the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization on Thursday to help ensure that biotechnologies used to create genetically modified foods are safe and that consumers' concerns are properly addressed. The Japan Times reported that Shigeru Shiba, senior state secretary for agriculture, forestry andfisheries, said that while biotechnology is expected to be key in solving world hunger, "in its application, it is important to ensure food and environmental safety based on scientific knowledge". In an address to a ministerial meeting of the FAO's 25th Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific, Shiba urged the U.N. agency to strengthen its assistance to its members in the areas of risk assessment of GM organisms and in the conservation of genetic plant resources.