GM 'benefits' remain unproven

Grocer, Sept 20, 2008 by Clare Oxborrow

Sir, The question your feature on the GM debate missed was why the Food and Drink Federation has fallen for biotech industry propaganda and joined forces with the National Farmers' Union to push for GM foods against the wishes of consumers (The Grocer, 13 September, p44).

Contrary to the claims in the article, there is not a single GM food on the market with "benefits such as enhanced nutrition and drought resistance". These crops don't exist. Commercially, GM is confined to a small handful of commodity crops containing one or both of only two traits--herbicide tolerance and insect resistance. Most are used for animal feed, the rest for biofuels and processed food. Globally GM crops are grown on just 2.4% of agricultural land. They do not yield more than their conventional equivalents, in fact Monsanto's Roundup Ready soya yields 5%-10% less than conventional soya.

Consumers were right not to trust GM; in the US and South America, herbicide use has rocketed because of the emergence of resistant weeds. Even the use of atrazine (banned in the EU) on US maize increased by 12% in just three years.

The British Retail Consortium and supermarkets recognise that the purported 'benefits' of GM are merely unsubstantiated industry claims. The biotech industry may have duped the FDF, but consumers remain unconvinced.

Clare Oxborrow, food campaigner, Friends of the Earth