Time for olive branches in long-running GM
A call for a peace treaty between the two opposing sides in the genetic modification (GM) debate – who have now been warring for more than 20 years – was made at yesterday’s Oxford Farming Conference.
The plea was made by author, campaigner and environmental activist Mark Lynas who famously spoke at the conference five years ago – shortly after swapping camps from being a campaigner against the use of GM to being a supporter of the technology.
However, he said that now was the time for some olive branches to be put out by both sides, stating that the longer the battles went on, the deeper the trenches became.
Lynas said that after decades of use it was obvious that there was no risk to human health from GM crops, and urged campaigners to stop creating hysteria where it had been scientifically proven that the crops were safe.
He said that there was a worrying similarity in the line of argument being used by some antigm campaigners and those who denied climate change
But he also urged supporters of GM technology to be more realistic and to accept that GM was only a “small part of a small part” in finding the solution to feeding a hungry world – stating that while there were times it would work there were also times when it wouldn’t.
Claiming that bans and moratoria on the use of GM products should stop, he said that, instead, full traceability by the food industry would allow consumers to chose – and vote with their wallets.
He also pointed out that much GM work was now being conducted outside the multi-national conglomerates, stating that non-commercial, open source breeding agencies should be recognised for the good work which they were doing, especially in Africa and other third world countries.
But he added that some “disruption” in the big commercial sector which dealt in both GM crops and chemicals would be to benefit of all, especially during the current round of megamergers in the crop protection business.
While Lynas said the scientific community had to accept that some people had ethical objections to the use of GM, he said they in turn must recognise that there were real world trade-offs when the technology was denied. One example of this was the inclusion of blue-green algae genes in oilseed rape which allowed it to synthesise omega oils – the only other real source being the continued depletion of world fish stocks.