Dive Summary:
- Owen Paterson, Britain's Environmental Secretary, gave a speech that effectively announced his support for growing GMOs in Britain.
- While not illegal, no GMO has been grown on British soil, following a European trend of being staunchly against all genetically modified products.
- This change of position comes amidst rumors of several European countries beginning to relax their fears and prejudices against GMOs.
From the article:
"The trouble is all this stuff about Frankenstein foods and putting poisons in foods.
"There are real benefits, and what you've got to do is sell the real environmental benefits."
Those in favour of the technology argue that it can increase crop yield and avoid the need for pesticides.
But there was widespread public opposition to the introduction of GM food to Britain in the 1990s.
Mr Paterson dismissed concerns about human health, arguing that widespread use of GM crops around the world meant people were already unwittingly eating GM food.
