HATS off to Seán Sherlock TD for seeking a rational approach to GM crop technology (September 17).

AFTER so many U-turns while in government it seems the Green Party are finally fulfilling their election promise of making Ireland a “GM free zone”, albeit where GM stands for “Green Member”.

CELEBRITY chef Richard Corrigan sells high-priced, good-looking food which is far from the reality of most people’s lives. More power to him.

IN Shane Morris’s letter headlined ‘GM crop trials ban almost like burning books’ (January 16), it was stated China had committed to investing the equivalent of $3,500 billion in GM crop research.

AGRICULTURE Minister Brendan Smith’s statement a few weeks ago that the Government is “discouraging cultivation of GM crops” indicates that Ireland’s hopes for a knowledge-based economy are dead and gone.

CHEF Lorcan Cribbin’s concerns about unbalanced Government funding of the UCC agriculture biotechnology conference (August 25) are hard to swallow as he expressed no concerns when the Government supported an unbalanced anti-GM food conference on June 16-18, 2006 at Kilkenny Castle, which the Government donated for free.

THERE is an obesity epidemic in Ireland and the first line of defence is to eat smart. As a result, accurate food information is critical.

MINISTER Trevor Sargent’s local food policies are so last century.

YOUR report on Environment Minister John Gormley’s anti-GM comments in Paris (July 5) says France has “banned all GM” crops.

DARINA ALLEN (Weekend, June 21) writes that a 2006 study showed “a couple of glasses of unpasteurised milk a week reduced the risk of allergy-related conditions such as eczema and hay fever in children”.

I WAS shocked that Darina Allen would encourage readers to grow and consume Jerusalem artichoke (Weekend, January 19).

THE suggestion by Darina Allen (December 29) that people should “try an organic wine which will spare you gnawing headaches and hangovers” is nonsense.

AS someone who helped organise the first public debate in Ireland on GM food/crops in 1997, I find it fascinating that 10 years on we’re still going in circles.

RICHARD AULER (Letters, July 2) is correct to note that developments within the GM field are rapid, but something that is long-standing is the scientific fallacy of a ‘GM-free zone’.

AS the Green Party chews over a possible deal with ‘the devil’, it’s interesting that their gnawing and spitting over the past decade regarding GM crops, and the pre-election desire for a so-called GM-free Ireland, has been moved to the side of the plate.

IN a recent article (Irish Examiner, Weekend, May 26) Darina Allen states she believes in “the value of unpasteurised milk from a clean herd that is guaranteed TB- and brucellosis-free”.

FOOD for thought is provided by the Green party manifesto regarding their huge u-turn on organic agriculture.

A DEAFENING silence has beset the anti-genetically modified (GM) food lobby in Ireland.

YOUR farming editor Stephen Cadogan correctly asked whether “retailers and processors can be persuaded to play their part in saving the millions hit by obesity from eating themselves to death?” (Irish Examiner Farming, September 14).

DARINA ALLEN wants to “stop GM food” (Irish Examiner Weekend, March 11).