GM food debate to flair as claim 79% of EU opposed
Surveys show the vast majority of European consumers oppose GM foods, usually on health and environment grounds.
The figures are disputed by the biotech industry which claims a "silent majority" holds different views.
Supporters of the technology say it will lower costs for farmers, increase crop yields, decrease the need for chemicals and help to feed millions in a hungry world.
They insist the crops are safe.
Opponents are concerned about health risks and threats to the environment and to traditional and organic agriculture, with the risk of cross-pollination and long-term contamination of soil.
In Ireland, a report is due out soon from an inter-departmental, inter-agency working group set up within the Department of Agriculture and Food to evaluate the issues and implications for crop production in Ireland that would arise from the cultivation of GM crops.
It is also part of the group's remit to develop proposals for a national strategy and best practices to ensure the co-existence of such crops with both conventional and organic farming.
The issue is also expected to be an issue in the British general election following a Tory Party decision to ban any planting of GM crops there until or unless science shows it would be safe for people and the environment, and the issues of liability and crop segregation are properly resolved.
Against this background, interest groups here are gearing up for the debate.
Some farmers opposed to GM crops are erecting signs at the entrance to their holdings. Various bodies from both sides of the issue are lobbying politicians.
Richard Auler, Ballybrado, Cahir, Co Tipperary, an organic farmer in this country for the past 22 years, said that EU-wide, 79% of the population is totally against GM crops either being sown or in their food, but said this view is being ignored by politicians, public servants and the media.
"We must keep GM crops out of Ireland, not only to protect farming here, but to protect our health and biodiversity," he said, urging individual farmers and producers to challenge the introduction by stealth of GM crops into Ireland. Otherwise, he claims, safe food production may no longer be possible in this country.
Hugh Grant, president of US biotechnology giant Monsanto, told the BBC he found the pace of change in Europe frustratingly slow.
He rejected the view that consumers were worried about the safety of GM products and predicted these crops could be grown in Britain within 10 years.
He said more than 400 million hectares (one billion acres) of GM crops had been planted around the world.
Farmers from China to Brazil were literally reaping the benefits. He also insisted GM technology could be used to produce a range of crops with distinct health benefits.
Friends of the Earth, however, said biotechnology firms had been promising such "super crops" for years and had failed to deliver.
It insisted more research was needed into the effects of GM food.
It said people have genuine concerns about GM crops, their impacts on health and the environment and the fact that they are being promoted by multinational companies more interested in controlling the global food supply and making a profit than providing healthy food.
Meanwhile, the largest study ever conducted on GM crops has concluded that they can harm wildlife there were fewer seeds, bees and butterflies in GM fields compared to their conventional equivalents.
The findings of the British study, which involved the collection of one million weeds and two million bugs, and cost €9 million, were hailed by some groups as proof that GM crops are harmful to the environment and should be banned.
In Ireland, the working group within the Department of Agriculture and Food sought the observations of 35 groups representing environmental interests, farmers, the seed trade, the biotech industry and consumers.
Minister Mary Coughlan said the Government's consistent position on the issue was adopted from the report of an inter-departmental group, which recommended a positive but precautionary approach towards genetically modified organisms and biotechnology in general.
"While I acknowledge the potential benefits from the use of modern biotechnology, it is critically important that the approval of genetically modified organisms is carried out under the most stringent controls and based on full scientific evidence to ensure that human health and the environment are fully safeguarded.
"I am satisfied that such safeguards are in place with the adoption by the Council and European Parliament over the past number of years of a raft of regulations on genetically modified organisms, which also provide for consumer choice through the labelling provisions," she said.
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