Brits object to GM
The vast majority of Brits object to the commercial cultivation of genetically modified crops, according to a an official nationwide consultation exercise published yesterday.
Chairman of the GM Nation? steering group, Prof Malcolm Grant, admitted the public had several attitudes to GM, most were negative. They ranged from “caution and doubt, through suspicion and scepticism, to hostility and rejection.”
“The GM debate reflected a weakening in the faith in the ability or even the will of any government to defend the interest of the general public,” Prof Grant said.
He added: “This was an innovative exercise around a complicated issue, and it has provoked a remarkable level of response.
“The debate gathered force week by week. There were hundreds of meetings across the country, ranging from small gatherings in village halls and upstairs rooms in pubs to large conferences of several hundred people in towns and cities.
“People have used the debate briefing materials and the website and more than 37,000 people registered their views with us.
“We are very grateful to everyone who took part. We promised to report the voices and the views we heard in the debate to government. This we have done.”
Only two per cent of people said they had no hesitation in embracing the further roll out of GM crops or food.
The committee found most people were “profoundly mistrustful” of the Government’s embrace of GM and its relationship with multinational businesses involved in GM crop production.
More than 37,000 people registered their views in the public debate.
95 per cent of respondents to the public consultation exercise believed GM meant the inevitable contamination of natural crops.
93 per cent said firms backing GM were motivated by profit rather than the common good.
Friends of the Earth GM campaigner Pete Riley said: “The Government will ignore this report at its peril. The public has made it clear that it doesn’t want GM food and it doesn’t want GM crops.”
