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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/mar/09/genetically-modified-food-uk-embrace
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| Should the UK now embrace GM food? | Should the UK now embrace GM food? |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| 9.51am: A new survey commissioned by the British Science Association suggests that public concern in the UK over genetically modified foods has fallen slightly in recent years compared to the period a decade or so ago when campaigning against the technology was at its most strident. | 9.51am: A new survey commissioned by the British Science Association suggests that public concern in the UK over genetically modified foods has fallen slightly in recent years compared to the period a decade or so ago when campaigning against the technology was at its most strident. |
| The survey's results - which show a 5% fall since 2003 in those who say they are "concerned" about GM - do not suggest a radical change in opinion, but they do align with the common perception that there is less hostility now towards the technology, coupled with signs of positive support from some politicians within government. | The survey's results - which show a 5% fall since 2003 in those who say they are "concerned" about GM - do not suggest a radical change in opinion, but they do align with the common perception that there is less hostility now towards the technology, coupled with signs of positive support from some politicians within government. |
| The EU is also currently considering whether to relax its rules on the technology and allow each member state to decide whether to impose their own ban on cultivating GM crops, or make their own deals direct with biotech companies on commercial growing. | The EU is also currently considering whether to relax its rules on the technology and allow each member state to decide whether to impose their own ban on cultivating GM crops, or make their own deals direct with biotech companies on commercial growing. |
| So, after a period of sometimes extreme hostility towards "Frankenfoods", could the UK be among the first countries within Europe to embrace the technology? Have the arguments both for and against the technology changed enough in recent years to see GM crops grown around the UK and foods containing GM ingredients routinely offered on supermarket shelves? | So, after a period of sometimes extreme hostility towards "Frankenfoods", could the UK be among the first countries within Europe to embrace the technology? Have the arguments both for and against the technology changed enough in recent years to see GM crops grown around the UK and foods containing GM ingredients routinely offered on supermarket shelves? |
| Traditionally, there have been three points of concern regarding GM foods: | Traditionally, there have been three points of concern regarding GM foods: |
| 1) The fear of unintended consequences; hence why environmentalists have long called for the application of the "precautionary principle". | 1) The fear of unintended consequences; hence why environmentalists have long called for the application of the "precautionary principle". |
| 2) The opportunity for the biotech industry to "own" the technology and, thereby, tightly control and dictate how farmers around the world use it. | 2) The opportunity for the biotech industry to "own" the technology and, thereby, tightly control and dictate how farmers around the world use it. |
| 3) The instinctive desire within many of us not to consume something that is "unnatural" - the fear of so-called "Frankenfoods". | 3) The instinctive desire within many of us not to consume something that is "unnatural" - the fear of so-called "Frankenfoods". |
| Have any of these concerns dissipated enough to see the UK embrace GM food? Do issues such as climate change, poverty and a fast-rising human population mean we now have to put aside these fears? | Have any of these concerns dissipated enough to see the UK embrace GM food? Do issues such as climate change, poverty and a fast-rising human population mean we now have to put aside these fears? |
| If quoting figures or scientific findings to support your points, please provide a link to the source. I will also be inviting various interested parties to join the debate, too. And later on today, I will return with my own verdict. | If quoting figures or scientific findings to support your points, please provide a link to the source. I will also be inviting various interested parties to join the debate, too. And later on today, I will return with my own verdict. |
| 10.51am: I've just received this response from the National Farmers Union: | |
| The world faces huge challenges in feeding a growing population (nine billion by 2050) but this has to happen against a backdrop of pressures on natural resources, unpredictable weather patterns, climate change and the need to manage more carefully the use of chemical inputs. To achieve this we will need every single tool in our toolbox - and that includes GM crops that have been adapted to cope in dry conditions, need fewer pesticides or offer nutritional benefits. Of course there needs to be a strong legal framework for approvals and effective co-existence measures to allow GM and non-GM systems to operate successfully together but these must be proportional to the need so that growers can retain their markets, and must be based on sound science. | |
| A recent NFU article: Europe, GM and the perfect storm | |
| 10.56am: And this just in from Dr Tom MacMillan, director of innovation at the Soil Association: | |
| Contrary to the headline, the survey doesn't actually show that public concern over GM food has lessened – it shows that attitudes have neither hardened nor thawed. For the comparable questions where there is data for the years in between now and 2003, we actually see a great deal of fluctuation in public attitudes. The share saying they agree that GM food "should be encouraged" actually drops from 46% in 2002 to 27% in 2012. Not only does that directly call into question the notion that there is greater public appetite for GM, but the fact that the figures are 35% in 2005 yet 44% in 2010 suggest it is absolute nonsense to suggest a clear trend here. There are lots of substantive arguments around GM, the future of food and farming, and so on, that I'm sure this coverage will cause to be rehearsed. But the premise – a new survey shows an important shift in attitudes – is incorrect. This survey repeats questions people were first asked a decade ago. While that might be an interesting academic exercise, in practice the world has moved on in those 10 years, to new areas of research and innovation, so it is a real throwback to focus on GM. Where we haven't yet seen enough progress is in tackling the democratic deficit at the heart of British research policy, which leaves the public, small businesses and farmers little say in the research that is done with their money and in their name. |