GM may deliver a bitter harvest

RECENTLY a friend visited Scotland from Arizona. She left a few days ago, raving about our access to locally grown fruit and veg, and our grass-fed meats.

It was a reminder that sometimes we take our dinner table for granted. On the other hand, when I introduced the Canadian actor Mike Myers to Irn-Bru, he took a tentative swig then asked me: ‘Scottish cuisine – is it all based on a dare?’

Most of our specialities seem designed to make folk sweat caramel through their pores, so I’m delighted the Scottish Government has taken an interest in the Scottish diet – and is considering a ban on growing genetically-modified crops. The jury is still out on whether or not genetically modified crops are harmful to health. However, the danger isn’t mutant triffids whiplashing the Highlands. It’s the dwindling of crop diversity down to a few ‘wonder crops’.

In the past 150 years, our seed varieties have plummeted, and that loss of range has serious implications. Shrinking variety means shrinking resilience.

Before GM meddling, bananas became bred down to only one variety – the Cavendish. One virulent pest or disease and our favourite fruit could be in yellow peril. Something similar happened in Ireland, where potato blight ravaged crops and a million people starved.

GM seed can only make this problem worse, especially since most of our patented crops are controlled by a few multinationals. Nor is it the only answer to feeding the world. We could eat less meat, waste less food and grow less sugar cane and beet as crops that feed health problems, not hungry mouths.

Meanwhile, I notice while we may not grow GM crops in future, the Scottish Government is happy for us to eat them. That’s a puzzle worth chewing over.