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Government scientist and Royal Society
in double push to promote GM
Valerie Elliott
Consumer Editor, The Times
Filed 23 Oct 09
©Valerie Elliott
This article was originally published in The Times on 20th October 2009.
It is reproduced here with the kind permission of its author and of the newspaper.
A double push for Britain to grow more genetically modified (GM) crops is to be made today John Beddington, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, is to renew his call for GM crops to ensure global food security.
His support for the controversial technology coincides with a study from the Royal Society, Britain’s most prestigious scientific institution, out tomorrow, which will also endorse the need for Britain to conduct more GM crop trials.
Scientists are determined to change public attitudes to GM crops, which have been condemned by critics as “Frankenstein food”.
Ministers, scientists, farmers and food companies think that the time is right to soften public opinion and to try to win them round to the benefits of GM production.
A new 12-month public consultation exercise on GM food to be undertaken by the Food Standards Agency.
Ministers have asked the watchdog to find out if the public mood has changed towards GM produce.
The move is also in response to concerns by food manufacturers and supermarkets which fear that the growing use of GM technology in overseas food production will make it “impossible” shortly to maintain a non-GM food supply.
A similar exercise took place six years ago which found that most people would not choose to eat or buy GM foods.
The scene has changed dramatically since then with the burgeoning economies in China and India increasing demand for protein.
The impact of climate change with more extreme temperatures leading to increased risk of drought and flooding as well as competition for land use, water scarcity and fuel costs are also likely to cause instability in food production and supply worldwide.
Professor Beddington, addressing a global food summit organised by Cabi, a leading international scientific research body, in London, will highlight GM production as one of the ways the world can guarantee secure food supplies.
GM is not “the silver bullet” but should be used as part of range of solutions to meet the estimated 50 per cent increase in demand for food expected by 2030, he will say.
“A range of solutions will be needed if a world population set to pass 8 billion by 2030 is to be fed equitably and sustainably. Improved protection of crops from pests and diseases in the field and during storage will be critical to reducing crop losses and has a major contribution to make,” he will say.
The 100-page Royal Society report assesses the various biological approaches that have been proposed to improve crop yield.
Sir David Baulcombe, of the University of Cambridge, who chaired the study, is to outline the steps that governments need to adopt to ensure that in coming decades farmers in the developed and the developing world are fully equipped to feed their growing communities.
Professor Baulcombe said: “If we are to take full advantage of the benefits which science can offer to food production, then we must act now, by identifying valuable science technologies, investing in research, and by laying the regulatory framework to bring these technologies to market.”
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We have always said that GM might be part of the answer to issues of food security. We are not closed to the technology. But we need the scientific evidence from GM trials to show that growing GM crops will pose no harm to human health or the environment.”
At present there is only one British trial under way at Leeds University where scientists are monitoring a GM potato variety which is resistant to blight, a common pest which can decimate crops.
©Valerie Elliott
Further reading recommended by Land-Care
Editorial (2003). Michael Meacher out of Westminster Cabinet
See HOMEPAGE, filed 14 Jun 03, ww.land-care.org.uk Click Here to View
Editorial (2005). "Sustainable Agriculture – Local and International Perspectives" Lecture by Peter Gregory, SCRI
See HOMEPAGE, filed 28 May 05, ww.land-care.org.uk Click Here to View
Irvine, James (2007). Eight years of Ross Finnie as Scottish Minister for Environment and Rural Affairs: what did he have to say for himself at NFUS agm, Dunblane, February 2007?
See HOMEPAGE, filed 02 Mar 07, ww.land-care.org.uk Click Here to View
Irvine, James (2008). Scottish Minister for Rural Affairs dispensed both cheer and gloom at NFUS agm on 22nd February
See HOMEPAGE, filed 23 Feb 08, ww.land-care.org.uk Click Here to View
Gillanders, Edwin (2008). Let battle rage on all fronts
See HOMEPAGE, filed 07 Aug 08 , ww.land-care.org.uk Click Here to View
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