Scotland's principles on GMOs

February 2013

Image by Timothy Valentine (off the grid) on Flickr

Just in case you thought that MP Owen Paterson's orchestrated media campaign (see WESTMINSTER'S PRO-GM PUSH - January 2013) and MP George Freeman's various carefully-positioned friends (see KEEPING WESTMINSTER ON THEFRONT FOOT - January 2013) are succeeding in changing attitudes to GM in Scotland, relax.

The Scottish Government is very clear about the key principles which guide its opposition to GM:

• The precautionary principle - insufficient evidence has been presented that GM crops are safe
• The preventative principle - the cultivation of GM crops could tarnish Scotland's natural environment and damage wider aspects of the Scottish economy such as tourism and the production of high quality, natural food.
• The democratic principle - science-based decision making cannot replace the will of the people. There is no evidence of a demand for GM products by Scottish consumers.

And Scotland is not 'going it alone'.

GM food through the back door

July 2012

Basmati rice. Photo by cookbookman17 on Flickr

Despite its almost total rejection of GM in food, feed and the environment, Europe is getting a lot of GM by the back door.

We all know about the GM animal feed widely used to produce our meat, eggs and dairy. Different UK supermarkets have confusingly different policies on what feed they allow, and consumers will rarely find a label to tell them what they're eating has been eating.

UK Policy on genetic modification

July 2011

Photo from Flickr

The Coalition Government in Westminster has released its first policy statement on “Genetic Modification (GM)” (see Below).

Its “overriding priorities” are “the protection of human health and the environment”.

To ensure these priorities are met, the government “will only agree” to the release of GMOs (crops and others) and to the marketing of GM food and feed providing:

• “a robust risk assessment indicates it is safe”
• full account has been taken of the scientific evidence
• clear labelling and suitable information are provided to enable consumer choice
• in the event of commercial GM crops being grown in England, economic interests of conventional and organic farming are “appropriately protected”.

In addition, GM technology has been relegated to the “longer term challenges”, and developing countries are to be allowed to “make their own informed decisions regarding (GM) use”, while at home the government “will listen to public views about the development and use of the technology”.