Does GM have a big part to play in securing the future of food supplies?

Written by Dr Evan Harris MP on Thu 19th Jun 2008

IN 2004 the largest scientific experiment of its kind anywhere in the world took place in UK fields when scientists conducted the farm-scale evaluations (FSEs) of GM crops.

The idea was to look at what effect growing GM crops had on farmland wildlife, to see whether it would be safe to grow them in the UK. Despite repeated attempts by anti-GM campaigners to vandalise the experiment, the scientists published their results. They were mixed: some GM crops seemed to damage biodiversity while others appeared better for many groups of wildlife.

But, despite concluding on the basis of these trials that there was no scientific case for a ban, the government decided not to go ahead with commercial planting of GM crops.

Now that we are facing rising food prices, growing concerns about poverty in the developing world and environmental damage, the public - and hence the government - is getting over some of its initial revulsion against GM crops.

GM crops could be developed that are more resistant to drought and pests, and could be part of the solution to these problems.

At the moment the door is slammed shut on GM crops in the UK, closing a potentially promising avenue of research. Developing crops that are more productive and sustainable, and that could be grown commercially in the UK in the future, will open the door to investment in research which can harness some of the potential benefits for us all.

The UK pioneered the gathering of evidence on the safety of GM crops and then ignored the results. It is time to base our policy on the evidence and not just on public opinion.

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This article first appeared in the Scotsman.