‘Safer than conventional food’: Push to make UK world GMO leader sparks outrage
Britain’s top environment official has called to bring GM to the UK praising it as “a safe and proven innovation” which would help “feed the world”. Green campaigners slammed the push saying that farmers should provide for the globe, not GM giants.
UK’s Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, has urged the government, industry and scientists to join forces in tackling the widespread public fear and skepticism about genetically modified crops.
No commercial GM crops are currently grown in Britain, with the official launching a campaign to change that to bring a possible multi-billion industry to the country.
“It is our duty to explore technologies like GM because they may hold the answers to the very serious challenges ahead,” Paterson said his speech at the Rothamsted Research agricultural institute. “I want the UK to have a leading role in feeding the world.”
Paterson has called GM "a safe, proven and beneficial innovation", which above all provides effective ways to increase crop yields, reduce fertilizer use, improve the efficiency of agricultural production and reduce post-harvest losses.
"The use of more precise technology and the greater regulatory scrutiny probably make GMOs even safer than conventional plants and food," he said.
