ROYAL SOCIETY ONSLAUGHT
1.Government scientist and Royal Society in double push to promote GM
2.Chief scientist says it would be 'unwise' not to develop GM crops in Britain

EXTRACT: "Ten years ago, when GM was first started, people were understandably worried about about health and environmental impacts. But I think current regulations mean those risks are now mitigated" - John Beddington, the Government's chief scientific adviser

NOTE: Curious that the likes of Beddington never said the concerns were reasonable or that the risks needed mitigating ten years ago, and that in the meantime the regulations haven't significantly changed.
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1.Government scientist and Royal Society in double push to promote GM
Valerie Elliott
The Times, October 20 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6881655.ece

A double push for Britain to grow more genetically modified (GM) crops is to be made today John Beddington, the Government's chief scientific adviser, is to renew his call for GM crops to ensure global food security.

His support for the controversial technology coincides with a study from the Royal Society, Britain's most prestigious scientific institution, out tomorrow, which will also endorse the need for Britain to conduct more GM crop trials.

Scientists are determined to change public attitudes to GM crops, which have been condemned by critics as "Frankenstein food".

Ministers, scientists, farmers and food companies think that the time is right to soften public opinion and to try to win them round to the benefits of GM production.

A new 12-month public consultation exercise on GM food to be undertaken by the Food Standards Agency.

Ministers have asked the watchdog to find out if the public mood has changed towards GM produce.

The move is also in response to concerns by food manufacturers and supermarkets which fear that the growing use of GM technology in overseas food production will make it "impossible" shortly to maintain a non-GM food supply.

A similar exercise took place six years ago which found that most people would not choose to eat or buy GM foods.

The scene has changed dramatically since then with the burgeoning economies in China and India increasing demand for protein.

The impact of climate change with more extreme temperatures leading to increased risk of drought and flooding as well as competition for land use, water scarcity and fuel costs are also likely to cause instability in food production and supply worldwide.

Professor Beddington, addressing a global food summit organised by Cabi, a leading international scientific research body, in London, will highlight GM production as one of the ways the world can guarantee secure food supplies.

GM is not "the silver bullet" but should be used as part of range of solutions to meet the estimated 50 per cent increase in demand for food expected by 2030, he will say.

"A range of solutions will be needed if a world population set to pass 8 billion by 2030 is to be fed equitably and sustainably. Improved protection of crops from pests and diseases in the field and during storage will be critical to reducing crop losses and has a major contribution to make,” he will say.

The 100-page Royal Society report assesses the varous biological approaches that have been proposed to improve crop yield.

Sir David Baulcombe, of the University of Cambridge, who chaired the study, is to outline the steps that governments need to adopt to ensure that in coming decades farmers in the developed and the developing world are fully equipped to feed their growing communities.

Professor Baulcombe said: "If we are to take full advantage of the benefits which science can offer to food production, then we must act now, by identifying valuable science technologies, investing in research, and by laying the regulatory framework to bring these technologies to market."

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We have always said that GM might be part of the answer to issues of food security. We are not closed to the technology. But we need the scientific evidence from GM trials to show that growing GM crops will pose no harm to human health or the environment.”

At present there is only one British trial under way at Leeds University where scientists are monitoring a GM potato variety which is resistant to blight, a common pest which can decimate crops.
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2.Chief scientist says it would be 'unwise' not to develop GM crops in Britain
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Daily Telegraph, 20 Oct 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6376786/Chief-scientist-says-it-would-be-unwise-not-to-develop-GM-crops-in-Britain.html

*Genetically modified (GM) food is an essential tool to help tackle the "perfect storm" of climate change and rising population, the Government's chief scientist has warned.

Professor John Beddington said the world will have to produce 50 per cent more food by 2030 in order to feed the growing population.

He said the only way to do this is to grow more crops on less land by using the latest scientific innovation, including crops genetically modified to be drought or disease resistant.

"This is such a problem that you cannot say we will not use GM technology - that would be really unwise," he said.

His comments come as a new Royal Society report also recommends GM crops to tackle the impending food crisis.

The report entitled 'Reaping the Benefits: Towards a Sustainable Intensification of Global Agriculture' is expected to suggest that GM crops could even be grown in Britain.

GM has recently come back onto the political agenda. The first trial in a year was recently re-started in Leeds, with the Government's support, and a recent report on food security from the Deparment for the Enviroment, Food and Rural Affairs backed further research into the technology.

But environmentalists insist the science is not proven and foods made from GM crops or "Frankenstein Foods" may be bad for human health.

Speaking at a global food summit, organised by the not-for-profit environmental research centre CABI, Professor Beddington said science will be the only way to feed the world in the future.

He said that by 2030 the world will have to produce 50 per cent more food and energy, together with 30 per cent more available fresh water, whilst adapting the floods and drought caused by climate change.

Prof Beddington said Britain could lead the way in developing the new technology - although he said it would be difficullt to grow GM crops in Britain because of activists ripping up the plants.

"Ten years ago, when GM was first started, people were understandably worried about about health and environmental impacts. But I think current regulations mean those risks are now mitigated," he said.

Dr Julian Little, Chairman of the Agricultural Biotechnology Council, said 13 million farmers are already growing GM on 125 million hectares around the world.

"If we are serious about producing more food off less land, we do not have much choice but to use new biotechnology, including GM," he said.

But Clare Oxborrow, Senior Food Campaigner with Friends of the Earth, said the Government was in danger of being blinded by "the white heat of technology" and putting human and environmental health at risk.

"We do have a 'perfect storm' with the impending food crisis, climate change and the recent economic crisis," she said. "It might seem like the perfect opportunity for the bio-tech industry to promote its products but the drivers of this crisis are so complex and need to be tackled at a fundamental level - just the thought that GM can solve this or play an important part is pie in the sky."