Not yet a GM nation

" We won't swallow it " (Daily Mirror) and " GM comes a cropper as Britain says a huge No " (Daily Express) were typical headlines greeting the results of the UK's public consultation on GM food. The government-funded " GM Nation? " survey showed that only 2% of people would eat it. 95% were worried that growing GM plants would contaminate non-GM ones, 93% felt not enough was known about long-term health effects and 84% believed GM technology represented unacceptable interference with nature. Unambiguous data. Yet the Daily Mail embellished even these damning statistics with massive typefaces, graphic pie charts and a half-page picture of the Grim Reaper. In self-congratulatory mood, the newspaper brandished the findings as the latest chapter in its long-running " Frankenstein Food Watch ". " The saga of New Labor and GM food stands as a symbol of all that is rotten about this administration, " said an accompanying editorial. " Mr Blair's likely reaction will be to force GM on us against our will. He is expected to argue that under European Union legislation, and world trade rules, he has no option. This is rubbish. " But there were some surprising reactions too. The Financial Times, for example, might have been expected to show weary frustration on behalf of companies eager to move ahead commercially with GM foods. It may reasonably have argued that the outcome of the exercise was hardly surprising after years of hysteria and misinformation. Instead, the FT offered " congratulations to the government for asking people what they think about GM crops ". Most people, said an editorial, had an intelligent understanding of the issues, rational scepticism about the benefits and a healthy mistrust of GM advocates. " Consumers simply do not want to buy the produce...And in a small, windy island, segregation of crops is very hard, yet cross-pollination could ruin organic farming. " Not a word here to tell readers that we already cultivate, without any problems whatever, crops which are capable of cross-pollination but which would cause very serious health dangers if this were to happen. Oilseed rape destined for the human food chain, for example, is simply grown sufficiently far away from another variety, which contains the poison erucic acid, so that for all practical purposes cross-fertilisation does not occur. Also unpredictable was an article by Geoffrey Lean, who has led The Independent's vigorous campaign against …