Government could be ready to back GM
The government is to permit genetically modified crops to be grown in the UK, despite acknowledging widespread public opposition to the idea.
In the wake of test results from the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment, gathered over the last three years, senior ministers have reportedly given the go ahead for GM maize crops to be grown and sold in the UK.
The committee looked at results of GM trials of maize, beet and spring-sown oil seed rape at some 60 sites across the UK.
Leaked minutes from a recent cabinet gathering said the public was unlikely to be “receptive” to the idea.
But, ministers agreed that opposition “might eventually be worn down by solid, authoritative scientific argument”.
A Mori opinion poll published yesterday found that while 13 per cent approved of GM food, 36 per cent were against, with 39 per cent undecided.
Although 85 per cent thought not enough was known about the long-term health effects of GM food, 45 per cent said GM crops would help consumers in the future, while 56 per cent said they could help developing nations.
Michael Meacher, the former environment minister, told the BBC’s Newsnight that moving ahead with GM would be a political rather than a scientific decision.
“Why is the government going ahead? It is not because of the science, it is because of the Bush administration in the USA putting on pressure and it is because of companies like Monsanto who want to make a big profit bonanza out of coring the world’s food supply,” he argued.
A public announcement on GM is expected sometime next week.
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