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> GMW:_GM_OPPOSITION_GROWS

> " GM_WATCH " <info

> Thu, 2 Sep 2004 10:57:40 +0100

 

>

> GM WATCH daily

> http://www.gmwatch.org

> ---

> Public opposition to GM crops has hardened during

> the past two years

>

> 1. Worried consumers 'shun GM foods' - BBC

> 2. Concern at GM crops increases - Guardian

> 3. FoE - GM OPPOSITION GROWS - NEW SURVEY

> ---

> 1.Worried consumers 'shun GM foods'

> BBC News Wednesday, 1 September, 2004

> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3618386.stm

>

> Britons are increasingly worried about genetically

> modified foods, a survey by consumer magazine Which?

> suggests.

>

> Of the 1,000 people polled, 61% said they were

> concerned about the use of GM material in food

> production.

>

> The poll also suggested more consumers are trying

> not to buy GM food, while fewer back GM crops in the

> UK.

>

> Earlier this year, the government gave the go-ahead

> to the commercial growing of a variety of GM maize,

> but banned two more varieties of crops.

>

> According to the poll, the number of people who are

> wary of GM foods and try to avoid them has gone up

> from 45% in 2002 to 58%.

>

> " Consumers clearly don't want GM food and are

> hardening their stance against it, " said the editor

> of Which?, Malcolm Coles.

>

> " It's hardly surprising when questions still remain

> about the risks for health and the environment, " he

> added.

>

> He went on to say that the government had ignored

> the public's concerns for long enough and needed " to

> rethink its policy before going ahead with growing

> GM crops commercially " .

>

> Ingredients removed

>

> Fewer people are happy with having GM crops in the

> UK - only one in four Britons compared to one in

> three two years ago.

>

> Finally, the number of those satisfied with

> manufacturers removing GM ingredients from their

> products has gone up 5%, from 28% to 32%.

>

> Environmentalist group Friends of the Earth welcomed

> the survey.

>

> Clare Oxborrow, the group's GM campaigner, said:

> " Public opposition to GM food and crops is growing,

> yet the government is planning to allow widespread

> GM contamination of non-GM crops.

>

> " The government must listen to the public and

> introduce tough new rules to keep our food, farming

> and environment GM-free. "

>

> GM maize

>

> In March this year, Environment Secretary Margaret

> Beckett gave the green light to cultivation of

> herbicide-tolerant maize for animal feed.

>

> She rejected GM beet and oilseed rape, which had

> been recently tested in so-called farm-scale

> evaluations.

>

> But environmental activists and farmers' groups this

> summer staged several protests at Sainsbury's depots

> and supermarkets.

>

> They accuse the chain of producing and selling milk

> and dairy products from cows fed on imported GM

> feed.

>

> But Sainsbury's replied there was " no evidence " that

> milk from animals fed on such crops contained any GM

> material.

> ---

> 2.Concern at GM crops increases

> Felicity Lawrence

> The Guardian, September 2, 2004

>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1295214,00.html

>

> Six out of 10 Britons now say they are concerned at

> use of genetic modification in food production and

> want to avoid GM foods, but most already

> eat them without realising.

>

> The hardening of attitudes emerges in a survey by

> the Consumers' Association, published today, which

> finds more respondents say they are against GM crops

> than a similar representative sample of around 1,000

> questioned two years ago. Only a quarter say they

> favour GM crops being grown in the UK, compared with

> almost a third in 2002.

>

> Six out of 10 respondents also fear they are eating

> GM foods unknowingly, and, according to the Food

> Standards Agency, they are probably right. If you

> eat any processed foods, you are likely to be

> consuming GM material.

>

> Foods may contain 0.9% of GM material without being

> labelled as GM. The leeway is granted because it is

> difficult to segregate GM and conventional crops,

> and GM soya and maize grown in America are likely to

> have contaminated non-GM

> crops. Soya and maize are found in the majority of

> processed foods.

> ---

> 3.Friends of the Earth, Sep 2

> GM OPPOSITION GROWS - NEW SURVEY

>

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/gm_opposition_grows_new_su_01092004\

..html

>

> Friends of the Earth has welcomed a new survey

> published today which shows that public opposition

> to GM food and crops has grown since 2002. The mood

> contrasts sharply with UK Government views, with

> Ministers currently considering plans to allow

> widespread GM contamination of non-GM crops.

>

> The UK Government is currently consulting on plans

> to allow significant levels of GM contamination of

> non-GM crops. The consultation on 'coexistence'

> (between conventional and GM crops), is the latest

> stage in a process that would allow GM crops to be

> commercially grown in the UK. Despite consumer

> opposition to GM, the Government has refused to

> broaden the consultation to look at what measures

> (such as separation distances) would be needed to

> ensure that crops and food are kept completely GM

> free [2].

>

> Friends of the Earth's GM Campaigner, Clare Oxborrow

> said

>

> " Public opposition to GM food and crops is growing,

> yet the Government is planning to allow widespread

> GM contamination of non-GM crops. If this

> happens people will find it increasingly difficult

> to avoid GM food. The Government must listen to the

> public and introduce tough new rules to keep

> our food, farming and environment GM-free. "

>

> [2] The Government coexistence consultation aims to

> put in place measures to allow GM crops to " coexist "

> with conventional crops. The measures will be

> designed to allow GM contamination up to the level

> set out in the EU labelling threshold of 0.9 per

> cent. Friends of the Earth believes that much

> stricter measures should be put in place to protect

> farmer and consumer choice that aim to eliminate GM

> contamination to lowest detectable levels,

> currently agreed to be 0.1per cent.

>

> DEFRA information on the consultation:

> http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2004/040716a.htm

>

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/gm/crops/index.htm#Coexistence

>

>

>

> > http://www.gmwatch.org

>

>

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