The Science of Being British.... Or why we have overcome the EU in order to start growing GM crops!

Well isn't this a nice follow-up post from last weeks?!

Last week I dissected the Seralini study on short-lived cancer-prone rats having short lives and developing cancer - regardless of whether their diet contained GM corn or not. So it's pretty convenient that this week, it has been announced that Britain has overcome EU legislation and is now permitted to grow particular varieties of GM maize (corn). WINNING!

Okay so it isn't as straight forward as that - we've basically been permitted to grow these crops because we're not part of the mainland, we are an island. Theres a fair few member states that still think GMOs are dangerous and are worried about pollen "contaminating" their crops. So until they all reach a consensus - it's easier to just block GM crops altogether on the mainland.

This raises the issue that Northern Ireland may not be able to grow GM corn even though it is part of the UK, because it shares a border with Republic of Ireland, which is a separate country and EU member state. Following the landmass border rule above, thats potentially a chunk of land we can't use.

And just to add to the difficulties - Scotland wants out - they don't want to grow the stuff at all. But Scotland is going through a difficult phase of wanting out of everything to do with Britain at the moment... So that's not really a surprise!

So where does that leave us?

Well, there's recently been an EU commissioned review of the No-GMO policy that can be summed up as:

• The studies claiming this technology to be unsafe have either failed to be published, have been published in non-peer reviewed journals (which are often pay-to-publish too) or have been retracted (ahem, Seralini, we're looking at you here!).
• Although there hasn't been a properly long-term study, there have been thousands of shorter studies, with different controls and different amounts of GMO in the diet, nothing has come up directly attributable to GMO feed and the only reason for no long-term studies is that the animals we use in labs all have short lifespans
• The US has been using GM crops both for animal feed and human consumption for a fairly long time (20+ years) and our incidences of cancers, obesity and heart disease are pretty similar, indicating that it is more of a western diet thing (high fat, high sugar), than a GMO thing. In fact, obesity is the only thing they may have more of and that is probably due to GMO food, not because of effects of consuming GMO food but from socioeconomics - foods made from GMOs are cheaper to produce as GMOs have higher yields, so everyone can afford to eat more.

So hopefully, the mainland will get it's act together and follow suit and therefore the entire of the UK can be used!

To be honest, whilst it is a landmark decision, until the rest of the EU follows suit, not much will actually change in terms of what will be available on our shelves.

Up till now, GMOs could not be cultivated within the EU either for human or animal consumption. But they and their derivatives (e.g. high fructose corn syrup) could be imported and if destined for human consumption, the ingredients label has to have "Contains GMOs" or similar on it. 

As it stands now - we can grow some GM corn. If it winds up directly in the food chain - either in tortilla chips or as HFCS and it'll get the same label on the packaging just as the imported stuff. And like the imported stuff - nobody will care (you ever been past an American candy store?! They're always heaving with customers and almost all their products have that on the ingredients label!)

Plus, Britain doesn't grow much corn as it is, the climate isn't right for it, and what maize we actually do grow tends to be for animal feed. And it is not like those animal products will have to be labelled on the packaging as "fed GMOs" - just like they're not now.

So what has changed in terms of consumer options?

The 'organic' label will actually mean something. It'll mean non-GMO. And although it is already sold at a premium, the price will go up. There's no price for safety, they'll claim. (I'll take apart why I don't seek out Organic anything in the near future!)

Going forward with biotechnology is a step in the right direction for Europe and Britain is the Euro-pioneer but that is all it is - a small step. Extensive EU red-tape makes it difficult to really proceed and integrate GMOs into our lifestyle and develop new ones.

But it proves one thing...

Hardcore activists peddling pseudoscience will not beat science.