Activists urge government to dump GM
Monday 10 December 2012
Printable
EmailFriends of the Earth (FoE) urged the government to focus on "safe agricultural solutions" today after Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said that genetically modified (GM) food should be widely grown and sold in Britain.
Mr Paterson made the remarks amid speculation that ministers are ready to relax controls on the cultivation of GM crops.
He told the Daily Telegraph he was "very clear" that GM would be a good thing and that "what you've got to do is sell the real benefits."
The coalition has allowed small-scale cultivation trials for GM food but widespread use is effectively banned.
However FoE senior food and farming campaigner Clare Oxborrow said Mr Paterson's claims "don't stack up" and blamed industrial and GM farming for causing the global food crisis we currently face.
"A fresh approach to agriculture is urgently needed to serve up sustainable diets globally, including reduced meat-consumption in wealthy nations and an end to food crops being used for biofuels."
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