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'Frankenstein food' crops could
be here in two years
SEAN POULTER
UK
Daily Mail
Friday May 04, 2007
Genetically modified crops could be grown commercially in Britain
within two years amid official efforts to water down policing of
the controversial "Frankenstein food" technology.
Advisers to the Government claimed yesterday that the farming regulatory
regime is unfairly weighted against the growing of GM crops.
ACRE - the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment -
wants a lighter touch system that concentrates more on the claimed
benefits of GM farming rather than any potential harm to the countryside
and health.
It suggested GM crops could solve future food famines caused by
climate change and population growth.
The committee, largely of scientists, also argued that GM crops
could become the only effective alternative to using oil for producing
plastics and other chemicals.
The chairman, Professor Chris Pollock, has been in the vanguard
of efforts to overturn blanket consumer opposition to GM farming.
He believes that if GM crops with health benefits can be developed
- such as wheat protein that protects against heart disease - the
technology's negative image among consumers will be reversed.
However, GM critics such as Friends of the Earth dismissed the
claimed benefits as "fantasy".
They said UK trials had found that GM farming practices disrupt
the natural balance, threatening wild plants, insects and birds.
ACRE's proposed radical overhaul of the way new farming practices
are regulated would involve watering down the policing of GM, while
introducing an assessment regime for other new farming systems.
Professor Jules Pretty, the deputy chairman, predicted that the
UK will get its first commercial production of GM crops within two
to five years, probably oilseed rape or forage maize.
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