I?ve recently returned back to the UK after living abroad for many years. When I left, I remember there was a great deal of public concern about the possible health risks of GM foods ? it was an issue well covered in the mainstream media, and many products in the supermarket were labeled.
Now it seems that the UK government is fully supporting GM crops and the whole public discussion has gone quiet. This is very different, for example, from France where the government has recently renewed its ban on Monsanto?s GM insecticidal maize. Both the French government and the European Commission have also recently announced new long-term research into the health risks of commercially available GM animal feed.
The UK press also barely covered recent findings on the toxicity and carcinogenicity of GM maize by a French research team led by Professor Seralini at the University of Caen. These results caused uproar in France as they showed that rats fed on Monsanto?s GM maize developed organ damage and increased rates of tumours. Apparently, in the UK there was an orchestrated campaign by the biotech industry to discredit and suppress this research. Ho hum! Its so hard to know what is true and real these days.
Mostly, I feel that I don?t want to loose my choice of food and what I feed my daughter. Its hard enough trying to cook a healthy balanced meal that she will actually eat without having to worry about pesticides, mercury, PCBs and GM etc.
There is a series of events happening this week around the UK to raise awareness about emerging evidence of GM health risks, including talks in London, Manchester and Newport by Professor Seralini that I?m going to check out. See www.gmhealthriskweek.org for more details. I?ll post more info if I make the public meeting in London tomorrow evening.