On stony ground

摘要

Deciding whether or not to allow the commercial growing of genetically modified crops in the UK should be, you might think, a straight forward matter. With all the reports and consultations, there ought to be plenty of evidence on which to base a decision. Don't be fooled: it's not that simple. Let's start with the recent public debate, GM Nation, the results of which are due in September. The government insists GM Nation is a "listen and learn" exercise. But how will it listen? If it hears overwhelming opposition to GM, will it still give GM the green light on the grounds that it knows better? The government appears to set great store by the outcome of the farm-scale evaluation trials, also due to be published in September. The trials have been presented as the authoritative test of the impact of GM crops on the environment. They are nothing of the kind. They were carefully designed to test the environmental impacts of GM crops under optimal conditions. As a result, they do not reflect how farmers actually behave under the commercial pressures of the marketplace, where the focus is on maximising yields rather than protecting the environment. They exclude, for example, questions about herbicide residues in soils and direct feeding trials for birds.