March 17, 2014

Based on a report published last week, scientists say that GM crops should come under the same regulation as conventional crops, while urging the government to take back powers from Brussels, allowing unilateral approval for the growth of GM crops in the UK. The report supports the conclusion of the European Academies Science Advisory Council that "there is no rational basis for the current stringent process."

"We take it for granted that because our supermarket shelves are groaning with food, there are no problems with the food supply, but there are," said the government's chief scientific adviser, Professor Sir Mark Walport, citing rising global population, limited farmland and climate change. "If we don't use GM, the risk is people going unfed."

In addition, Walport and the report's authors believe that EU regulation - which has approved just two GM crops compared to 96 in the US - must be changed to test each crop on its merits, instead of whether it was developed through conventional or GM techniques.

Moreover, decades of GM crops use around the world have shown no adverse effects, according the report's authors.  "When the correct tests are done, GM products are as safe as their non-GM counterparts," said Walport. "The EU decision-making has been dysfunctional. It makes much more logical sense to regulate on a product-by-product basis: technologies are neither universally safe or universally unsafe."

Criticising the EU's GM crop regulation, Professor Sir David Baulcombe, the report's lead author, said that the process "takes years and costs millions of euros for each crop."

"Not surprisingly, there are very few applicants," he added.

Baulcombe's report, which was commissioned by the prime minister's Council for Science and Technology and endorsed by Professor Walport, recognises that significant public opposition remains.

"We have to be clear that GM is not all about profits for multinational companies," Walport said. "(However), there are obvious competitive benefits for the UK. We want the science done by the academic sector to yield the maximum benefits and one way is through the marketplace."

Claire Robinson, editor at campaign group, GMWatch, claimed that the report's authors were not independent of the industry; for example, lead author Baulcombe had received research funding and worked as a consultant for the multinational Syngenta. "Their views should be treated with the same scepticism we would apply to any sales pitch," she said.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister, David Cameron is expected issue an official response to the report.

In January 2014, the government's environment secretary, Owen Paterson, voiced his support for GM crops, cautioning that "Europe risks becoming the museum of world farming".

The first growth of GM plants started more than 30 years ago, with the first commercial GM crop - the Flavr Savr tomato - grown two decades ago in the US.

Currently, the area cultivated for GM crops is doubling every five years and already 80% of soy and cotton has been genetically modified to withstand pesticides or repel pests. GM crops in development could withstand pests or diseases, such as potato blight, cope with heat or drought, or have better nutritional or storage properties.

Occupying 12% of the world's arable land, GM crops are barely used in the EU following years of public concern. According to the aforementioned report by Professor Baulcombe, the Union imports 70% of its animal feed, most of which are GM.

"Bizarrely, our animals eat GM quite safely although we do not have the option," Baulcomber noted.