For more than a decade, Britain has turned its back on the cultivation
of genetically modified crops. A climate of farmyard fear, established
by eco-warriors who have trashed crop trials and campaigned to have GM
products banned from stores, has ensured that a valuable technology -
used widely in many other countries, including the US - has been blocked.
Now we are facing the consequences. Food production costs are set to
soar in Britain, largely because techniques that could curb those
rises are being shunned thanks to the behaviour of activists who
claim, without proof, that GM crops will damage the environment.
We need to be clear about this vitally important issue. Britain must
rethink its attitude to GM crops and prepare for their introduction as
a matter of urgency. They are not a panacea for our impending food
crisis, but they do have a significant role to play in alleviating
many of the problems that lie ahead for us.
Consider the issue of animal feeds. These are based on crops such as
maize and soya, whose costs are now rising dramatically. Crucially,
though, the prices of GM soya and maize are set to rise more slowly
than those of traditionally grown varieties. Failure to use GM maize
and soya will therefore have a straightforward impact on meat and
poultry costs: their prices will rise unnecessarily.
At present, most GM technologies are limited to those that help plants
resist powerful herbicides. The chemicals can then be used with
relative impunity because they will kill weeds but not affect modified
crops. However, new types of GM crops are already being developed that
promise to bring even reater benefits. Plants that can resist attacks
from pests and viruses fall into this category and are likely to be
ready for commercial growing in a few years. Again, these offer the
prospect of cutting food production costs by reducing crop waste.
Finally, there are those GM crops, still in relatively early stages of
research and development, that will introduce specific health benefits
for consumers. An example is provided by scientists at the John nnes
Centre in Norwich, who have created purple tomatoes - by modifying
them with genes from snapdragon flowers - that are rich in
antioxidants and which, in tests on mice, were shown to give
protection against cancer.
Less than a decade ago, Sir Robert May - then the government's chief
scientific adviser - remarked that people who opposed the growing of
GM crops display "the attitude of a privileged elite who think there
will be no problem feeding tomorrow's growing population". The wisdom
of those words has become apparent in a frighteningly short time.
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