Neil Parish MP was the keynote speaker at the fourth National Office for Animal Health (NOAH) Conference held at the Royal Society, London, on Tuesday 15th February.This year’s NOAH conference was about the role animal medicines would play in feeding the world and meeting the challenges of population growth and climate change.The conference was chaired by Lord Soulsby of Swaffham Prior, President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and a former veterinary surgeon himself.The projected worldwide growth in human demand for protein must be met by developments in animal medicine. Science has a vital role to play in this but there must be appropriate regulation that protects human health and animal health and welfare, at the same time as allowing technological advancement. Growing public confidence in scientific advancement is an important part of this.In his keynote speech, Neil Parish, a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, outlined issues associated with population growth and the need to increase food production. He said: We are now six and half billion people; we will go up to nine billion by 2050.... In this global world, where we are seeing climate change and many countries drying up and getting hotter, there is no doubt that Britain and northern parts of Europe will need to play their fair share in producing food.”Neil Parish also warned that the European Union must reconsider its stance on biotechnology or risk putting livestock farmers out of business. Neil said: “The majority of protein that we feed our animals comes from countries growing GM soya and in face most of the meat that we import is reared on GMP. If we are not careful, all we will do is export our industry and then we will get the same meat imported into Britain fed on something we have banned for use in the UK.”Other speakers included Professor Andy Peters, MD of Arpexas Ltd, Professor David Leaver of the Royal Agricultural College and Dr Gabriel Oluga Aboge of the Central Veterinary Laboratory, Kenya who spoke about Africa’s need for a technological revolution in animal science to feed a growing population.