COMMENT from Clare Oxborrow: There's now a response from Defra [the UK Governemnt's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] in the Times today saying they're not about to support a new push for GM
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article2470384.ece

Interesting to speculate where the non-story came from...

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MINISTERS TO BACK GM CROPS?
Friends of the Earth Press Release

Responding to reports in today's media [1], Government ministers are backing a new push on GM crops, Friends of the Earth's GM campaigner Clare Oxborrow said:

"The Government should take a close look at how little the GM industry has delivered for the environment, farmers and food security, before backing its latest PR campaign. GM crops often need more pesticides, provide lower yields and have caused widespread contamination of the food supply.

"Instead of feeding the world, virtually all GM crops are grown in vast monocultures for animal feed, fuelling increasingly intensive meat and livestock production systems in Europe, America and Asia. The only benefits GM crops have brought are to the biotech companies that own the patents and a few big farmers growing them on an industrial scale.

"Having failed to convince the public to accept its technology, the GM industry is cynically using concerns over climate change and the environment to push its crops. The challenges we face are more urgent than ever, but the GM industry is no closer to providing a solution.

"Rather than backing this expensive and risky technology, the Government should fund popular and sustainable farming methods that are already delivering benefits, such as organic and locally produced food. Around the world emphasis should be placed on maintaining diversity in seed stocks, so that crops adapted to local environmental conditions can be developed, and ensuring that people have access to land and the ability to grow food for themselves."

[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/sep/17/gmcrops.politicalnews1