GMW: BLAIR BACKS BIOTECH... AGAIN!

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GMW: BLAIR BACKS BIOTECH... AGAIN!

" GM WATCH " <info

Fri, 27 May 2005 09:56:01 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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Recently, the peculiarities of the British electoral system returned

Tony Blair to power with the support of just 22% of those eligible to

vote (ie almost 80% of British adults didn't vote for him).

 

The thing that made Tony Blair such a liability to his Party is that

people do not trust his judgement on big issues nor his honesty when it

comes to promoting his agenda.

 

Public distrust was chrystalised, of course, by the Iraq war, where

Blair ignored a million people out on the street and instead backed Bush

and hyped WMD. Since then, more than 100,000 people have been killed and

no WMD have been found.

 

At the end of the election campaign, an apparently humbled Tony Blair

made a point of emphasising that he was now listening to the public.

 

We don't think so! GM crops were resoundingly rejected in Blair's own

national debate on GM crops. Every opinion poll shows public rejection

of this technology, but still Blair doesn't get it.

But then with a biotech entrepreneur as his Science Minister and his

Party's biggest backer, that's hardly a surprise.

http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=116

 

The good news, of course, is that Blair is held in such poor esteem

that his support is almost as good as the kiss of death!

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PM: We must accept risks

By Nigel Morris, Home Affairs Correspondent

The Independent, 27 May 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=641733

 

Britain was in grave danger of " blowing our chance " to become a world

leader in biotechnology, Tony Blair warned as he called for a national

debate on everyday risks faced by the public.

 

The Prime Minister, pointing to concerns such as genetically modified

foods and the MMR jab, said: " We are in danger of having a wholly

disproportionate attitude to the risks we should expect to run as a

normal

part of life. "

 

Demanding an end to the " compensation culture " , he promised ministers

would reflect more before reacting to scandals or accidents.

 

The Government has pledged to spend GBP1bn on biotechnology by 2008,

including on research on stem cells, with the aim of developing therapies

for conditions such as cancer, Parkinson's disease and diabetes. " It is

time to have a proper dialogue about how science and its risks are

evaluated and reported. Biotechnology is probably the coming industry of

the world, " Mr Blair said in a speech in London to the Institute of

Public Policy Research.

 

" Britain and Europe should be world leaders. We are in grave danger of

blowing our chance. If we do, we will rue it bitterly. "

 

The Government had a duty to be open in discussing such subjects, to

produce its evidence and not exaggerate, he said. The media also had a

responsibility in its reporting.

 

Every government decision involved " fine-grained risks and the balance

of probability " , Mr Blair said. " Unless we find a viable way of

discussing these risks, a mature national conversation on important

policy

questions such as GM science will be impossible. "

 

He also cited a report linking the MMR jab with autism that started a

scare " despite the vast weight of evidence to the contrary " .

 

 

 

 

 

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