Making Sense of GM

Scientists from the Norwich BioScience Institutes have contributed to a guide to genetic modification published by the charitable trust, Sense About Science.

In Making Sense of GM, scientists and agriculturalists are launching a fresh public discussion about GM: one that puts GM back into the context of developing plant breeding and that responds to the public’s questions and misconceptions. Publicly funded work in particular has struggled against misconceptions about Frankenstein foods, vandalism and a costly regulatory burden.

There have been more Google searches on genetically modified crops in the past two years in the UK than anywhere else in the world. While there have been over a trillion GM meals consumed and nearly 120 million hectares of GM crops grown, hardly any of that was in Europe, still less in the UK. It’s not surprising that people have questions about why that is, what GM is, what it does, whether they are eating it and what would happen if they did.

The guide examines the way GM has been debated in the past, and presents commentary from scientists, who say a new perspective needs to take into account:

• The limitations of older selective breeding techniques that GM was developed to overcome.
• Advances in molecular breeding since 2000, which mean GM is even less of a distinct area of plant breeding than before and it makes little sense to talk about it separately.
• Society’s requirements for improvement in plants, ranging from the main commercial crops, where yields must increase to feed people but with less environmental impact, to localised issues such as combating the fungal destruction of banana and plantain crops in Uganda and improving the shelf-life of Kentish apples to reduce imports.
• The importance of assessing a new plant - GM or not - according to what farmers need, where it is to be grown and its likely impact, rather than according to how it was developed.

In the guide, the heads of the independent, public-sector research centres in the UK call for a discussion about GM that helps the public and policy makers to judge what crop technologies could contribute to global food supply and to the management of natural resource and changes in climate. They and other scientists explain what GM is and the research that uses it.

Professor David White, Director, Institute of Food Research: “A sensible discussion of genetic modification issues is important to IFR science. Not only is the approach an outstanding research tool but it also offers exciting options for the development of foods to enhance gut health and protect against diseases such as cancer.”

The guide Making Sense of GM is published by Sense About Science with the kind assistance of the BBSRC, Genetics Society, Institute of Biology, Institute of Food Research, John Innes Centre and The Lawes Agricultural Trust

The Institute of Food Research and the John Innes Centre are institutes of the BBSRC.

To download the guide, please visit: http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/PDF/MakingSenseofGM.pdf

For further information please contact 0207 478 4380 or email enquiries@senseaboutscience.org

Contacts:

IFR Press Office
Zoe Dunford, Tel: 01603 255111, email: zoe.dunford@ifr.ac.uk
Andrew Chapple, Tel: 01603 251490, email: andrew.chapple@ifr.ac.uk

Notes to editors:

The mission of the Institute of Food Research (www.ifr.ac.uk) is to undertake international quality scientific research relevant to food and human health and to work in partnership with others to provide underpinning science for consumers, policy makers, the food industry and academia. It is a company limited by guarantee, with charitable status, grant aided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (www.bbsrc.ac.uk).

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