BRITAIN TRIES TO BURY GM FOODS CONTROVERSY
Date: 24-May-99
Country: UK
Author: Michael Peacock
Cabinet Office Minister Jack Cunningham announced a major overhaul of government regulation, setting up two new advisory bodies - one to assess the impact of GM products on healthcare, the other to look at the effects on agriculture and the environment.
Cunningham, the government troubleshooter, also published a report from the government's top scientist and its senior medical expert which concluded there was no evidence yet that so-called "test tube foods" were inherently harmful.
"In agriculture genetic modification has the potential to produce food more efficiently, which is more nutritious, tastes better, and uses fewer pesticides. This is just the start," Cunningham told parliament.
"Biotechnology undoubtedly has the potential to improve our quality of life," Cunningham said. "It's government's responsibility to encourage this potential. But we will not do so at the risk to public health and the environment."
The two bodies, with members drawn from a wide range of fields, would advise ministers, consult widely with the public and look at broader ethical issues, Cunningham said.
The government has had a rough ride over GM technology. Public opinion is firmly set against "test tube foods" but Prime Minister Tony Blair and Cunningham are determined that Britain should remain at the forefront of the technology.
Mad cow disease, the human equivalent of which has claimed about 30 British lives, has made people deeply worried about food safety issues. Supermarket chains have already reacted to public fears, either banning GM produce from their shelves or, at the very least, clearly labelling it.
In an attempt to present a unified government message, Cunningham insisted that commercial growing of GM crops would not go ahead until the government was satisfied they would not harm the environment or contaminate non-GM farm produce.
The government has sent conflicting signals in recent weeks, some ministers saying commercial planting could begin next year, another saying that could not happen for a long period of time.
English Nature, a government advisory body, has called for a five-year ban to allow research to yield hard results. The opposition Conservatives backed a moratorium on Friday.
Friends of the Earth spokesman Charles Secrett told the BBC the new plans were inadequate. He also questioned how objective the government was about the biotechnology.
The environmental pressure group leaked a government letter on Thursday which showed Cunningham and other ministers had formed a group to rebut unfavourable or inaccurate stories about GM foods. "The Government is not interested in genuine debate. It wants to spin GM foods down our throats," Secrett said.
Conservative agriculture spokesman Tim Yeo slammed the strategy as a "disgrace". But Cunningham was unrepentant.
"On the one hand we are criticised by him...for not coordinating the government's response and then as ministers when we do get together and do coordinate the government's response, he criticises that too," he said.
