John writes about GM crops and his views about whether commercial growing should be permitted.
I am aware of the level of public concern about GM crops and I believe that there should be a moratorium on commercial planting until scientific tests demonstrate that they do not cause unacceptable harm to human health or the natural environment. We must of course proceed or not on the basis of sound science. I supported the farm scale trials, but I am worried that they have been badly handled by the Government and by the fact that the results are so mixed.
I am also worried by the procedures followed and by the results of the Government’s GM trials. The trials were not properly administered – for example, a herbicide called atrazine, which has been banned by the EU, was used, which calls the validity of the trials into question. I believe that if GM crops are licensed for planting in the UK, then we must make certain that organic and conventional farms cannot be contaminated.
This is another area where I do not believe that the Government’s GM trials have been sufficiently rigorous. If GM products are licensed for sale in the UK, I believe that we must carefully study the labelling requirements so that consumers can make informed choices. Having said that we must be very cautious in this area, I do, though, believe that we cannot ignore the potential benefits of GM. In my view, more and wider research must be undertaken in order to discover as much as we can about this technology. We must not have a knee-jerk reaction that because it is new it is automatically wrong. Farmers must not be disadvantaged by being left behind. My Conservative colleague, Gregory Barker MP, has been successful in the Private Members’ Bill ballot and will propose a Bill entitled, “GM Contamination and Liability.”
