UK government ministers are trying to cover up secret briefings with GM companies hoping to push GMOs onto our dinner plates.

Ministers "covering up secret meetings with GM food lobby": Owen Paterson refused a Freedom of Information request about talks over "Frankenfood"
By Sean Poulter
Daily Mail, 15 Apr 2014
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2605570/Ministers-covering-secret-meetings-GM-food-lobby-Owen-Paterson-refused-Freedom-Information-request-talks-Frankenfood.html

* Ministers are trying to cover up secret briefings with GM companies
* Owen Paterson has refused FOI request to supply details about talks
* Has encouraged public to accept GM crops being sold in supermarkets
* Has also been lobbying EU to let Britain grow crops banned elsewhere
* He is working in partnership with Agricultural Biotechnology Council

Ministers are trying to cover up secret briefings with GM companies hoping to push "Frankenfood" on to dinner tables.

Owen Paterson has refused a Freedom of Information Act request to supply details about talks with the GM industry trade body.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary has led the charge to encourage a sceptical public to accept genetically modified crops being grown on UK farms and sold in supermarkets.

He has also been lobbying the EU to let Britain grow crops such as GM maize even if they are banned in other countries.

It has emerged that these efforts are being carried out in partnership with the Agricultural Biotechnology Council, which is financed by GM companies such as Monsanto, Syngenta, and Bayer CropScience.

The revelations come weeks after it was revealed that a group of scientists behind an official government study backing GM all had links to the industry.

Now there is evidence of meetings and briefings involving ministers and the ABC and its industry backers. There have been no such meetings with groups worried about the impact of GM on human health and the countryside.

The campaign group GeneWatch UK made a Freedom of Information request to find out what was said at the briefings, but Mr Paterson’s department has refused to give details.

The group has lodged a formal complaint with the Information Commissioner in the hope that ministers will be forced to admit how GM companies are driving government policy.

GeneWatch director Dr Helen Wallace said: "The evidence strongly suggests the Government is colluding with the GM industry to manipulate the media, undermine access to GM-free-fed meat and dairy products and plot the return of GM crops to Britain.

"The public have a right to know what is going on behind closed doors."

Dr Wallace added: "Ministers who should be protecting our environment have put Monsanto and Syngenta in the driving seat of policy on GM crops and foods, despite growing evidence that the GM crops... will harm British wildlife such as butterflies."

Defra has refused to provide details of a telephone conference between the department and the ABC on June 10 last year.

Ten days later, Mr Paterson made a speech calling for opposition to be dropped and claiming GM crops and food were "probably safer" than the conventional equivalent.

The ministry has also refused to release a "message on media suggestions" sent by the ABC to Defra last April, or details of discussions between Monsanto and Defra two months before.

Tesco, Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, and Sainsbury’s later decided to end bans on using GM feed for chickens.

Defra has also refused to provide details of a meeting and emails between former environment minister David Heath and the ABC in January last year.

Defra said: "We provided as much information as possible in response to GeneWatch’s request. Any information withheld was within the legislation."

ABC deputy chairman Dr Tom Lyall said: "We have regular dialogue with a range of stakeholders, including policy makers."