Are our hands tied?

Clare Oxborrow; Becky Price; Peter Riley

1st November, 2008

Whether we like it or not, the Government says that we must accept the necessity of genetically modified crops to fuel, feed and heal the world. Leading academics, researchers and campaigners in the GM arena address the science and the spin of the GM 'solution', as well as looking at alternatives that are already contributing to a sustainable farming future.

In 1997, genetically modified (GM) oilseed rape was a pen's stroke away from being approved for commercial cultivation in the UK. The following years saw massive public protest across the country, large-scale publicly-funded environmental trials and an official Government debate.

By the end of 2005, the Government seemed to have given up on GM crops and the industry had stopped pushing for commercialisation, but in recent months proponents of GM have become more vocal in arguing for GM crops, particularly associating them with an ability to solve the global food crisis. To understand this apparent turnaround, it is worth revisiting some of the key events of those years.

Back in 1996, the first GM soya shipments arrived from the US. Within months, as much as 60 per cent of processed food on sale in the UK was thought to contain some GM soya. There was little publicity and no consultation. Since 1989, a growing number of field trials for GM crops had been taking place, many involving herbicide-tolerant crops.

GM-herbicide tolerant crops have had a gene inserted that enables the plants to withstand the application of a 'broad-spectrum' herbicide, such as Monsanto's Roundup. These herbicides kill off...

To view the rest of this article - you must be a paying subscriber and Login