Some more info about the GM movers and shakers...

Prof Keith Campbell, a biologist at Nottingham University and a member of the team that cloned Dolly the sheep in 1996, said GM animals were not a threat to health unless scientists deliberately gave them a gene that made their milk toxic. 'Genetically modified food, if done correctly, can provide huge benefit for consumers in terms of producing better products,' he said.

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP, said a ruling in Brussels meant that shipments of GM produce that had not been safety tested in Europe could be allowed into the EU. "This is a slippery slope, allowing crops that have not been given safety approvals to enter our food chain," she said. There are 150,000 tons of GM soy oil sold in Britain every year, mostly used in fast food restaurants. Caterers are supposed to tell customers if soy is used but over the past five years Trading Standards has found hundreds of hotels and pubs breaking the law.

Kirtana Chandrasekaran, of Friends of the Earth, said: "There's a chain of destruction linking soy fields flooded with pesticides to the UK's factory farms which are polluting our countryside and giving us unhealthy food. The only winners are companies that produce pesticides and sell us dodgy meat."

Professor Sir John Beddington, the Government's chief scientific adviser, warned that feeding the world would demand a range of solutions - from making traditional farming more efficient to introducing genetically modified (GM) crops. If GM crops can solve problems that are otherwise intractable, then, as Sir John said, "we should use them".


WE need to rethink our attitude to GM crops, former Science Minister Lord Sainsbury said yesterday.He warned that without so-called "Frankenstein Foods'' the world faced increased hunger and rising food prices. Britain needed to join a global industry which could end up feeding the world. He said: "I think the time has come to have again the debate about GM."

Caroline Spelman, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, has a history of supporting genetically modified crops through her links to the farming industry.


GM Freeze, a coalition of community groups and green campaigners, said: 'The proposals have been produced to try to overcome member state opposition to the commercial cultivation approval of GM crops. 'Many member states are not happy with the safety assessments of GM crops for cultivation on health and environmental grounds and have demanded a tougher approach.'

The Prince of Wales... is an implacable opponent of the technology. Only yesterday, presenting prizes at the BBC Radio 4 food and farming awards, the Prince gave warning that people were creating problems by "treating food as an easy commodity rather than a precious gift from nature''.
The Prince's supporters last night described the research as the first salvo in a taxpayer-funded public relations offensive to try to soften up opinion in favour of allowing more GM produce into the food chain.

Lord Melchett, a director of the Soil Association, said: "The report is propaganda and a scandalous waste of public money.