September 18, 2007

UK government backs renewed drive to introduce GM crops

British government ministers have given their backing to a renewed campaign by farmers and industry to introduce genetically modified crops to the United Kingdom, The Guardian reports Monday (September 17), quoting a senior government source.

The ministers say the public will now accept that the technology is vital to the development of higher-yield and hardier food for the world's increasing population and will help produce crops that can be used as biofuels in the fight against climate change, the paper says.

"GM (genetically modified crops) will come back to the UK, the question is how it comes back, not whether it's coming back," the source told the paper.

Attempts to introduce genetically modified crops to the UK in the late 1990s met a wave of direct action from activists tearing up crops. At the same time many supermarkets barred GMO ingredients from their ranges for fear of provoking a consumer backlash, The Guardian recalls.