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Scotland's rural affairs secretary has said that the country will ban the growing of genetically modified crops and opt out of allowing EU-approved GMOs such as MON 810 (corn with an added Bacillus thuringiensis gene):
Richard Lochhead said the Scottish government was not prepared to "gamble" with the future of the country's £14bn food and drink sector. He is to request that Scotland be excluded from any European consents for the cultivation of GM crops. But farming leaders said they were disappointed by the move. Under EU rules, GM crops must be formally authorised before they can be cultivated. An amendment came into force earlier this year which allows member states and devolved administrations to restrict or ban the cultivation of genetically modified organisms within their territory.
[...] Mr Lochhead added: "There is no evidence of significant demand for GM products by Scottish consumers and I am concerned that allowing GM crops to be grown in Scotland would damage our clean and green brand, thereby gambling with the future of our £14bn food and drink sector. Scottish food and drink is valued at home and abroad for its natural, high quality which often attracts a premium price, and I have heard directly from food and drink producers in other countries that are ditching GM because of a consumer backlash."
[...] The move has also been broadly welcomed by environment groups. But Scott Walker, chief executive of farming union NFU Scotland, said he was disappointed that the Scottish government had decided that no GM crops should ever be grown in Scotland. "Other countries are embracing biotechnology where appropriate and we should be open to doing the same here in Scotland," he said. "These crops could have a role in shaping sustainable agriculture at some point and at the same time protecting the environment which we all cherish in Scotland." Huw Jones, professor of molecular genetics at agricultural science group Rothamsted Research, said the announcement was a "sad day for science and a sad day for Scotland. He said that GM crops approved by the EU were "safe for humans, animals and the environment".
The European Parliament voted to give member states the ability to opt-out of allowing the cultivation of EU-approved GMOs in January.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2015, @08:49PM
Here's what would make me feel a lot more comfortable with GM foods - require that all C-level officers of the company, and their immediate families - particularly their children, eat at least one regular serving of their own GM crops every day for five years before the crops are made widely available. Make sure the people with a monetary incentive to make bad decisions will have the kind of personal incentive to make good decisions that they can't buy their way out of. Expensive medical treatment can increase the chances of recovering from some weird disease, but it can't guarantee it.
Practically no one has the expertise to evaluate if a GMO testing process is a white-wash or stringent. So, like so much of our society, it comes down to trust. If they are willing to risk the health of their kids on their GM-food, then I will be much more likely to trust them when they tell me there is no risk to health of my kids from their GM-food.
That still ignores second order risks where the problem isn't with the GMO per se but with how the GMO interacts with the rest of the world, like unintended cross-breeding with other plants or, as you alluded to, chemicals like glyphosate used in conjunction with GMOs contaminating other ecological niches. But it is an approach that cuts through all the arguments about whether the GMO is safe or just hasn't been tested enough. In the end, the proof is in the (genetically modified) pudding.