GM debate rages on in The Daily Telegraph
14 June 1999
GM debate rages on in The Daily Telegraph
THE debate over the pros and cons of genetically modified (GM) food is given full rein in the editorial columns of The Daily Telegraph.
The newspaper reports that the Prince of Wales has come under attack from a leading scientist and former senior government adviser for depriving his tenant farmers of the right to grow genetically modified crops.
Prof Derek Burke, a former chairman of the governments advisory committee on novel foods and processes, criticised the decision by Prince Charles last week to ban farmers entering into new tenancy arrangements on Duchy of Cornwall land from growing GM crops.
He is reported to have taken issue with the Prince in the latest issue of Feedback Magazine, published by the Food and Drink Federation.
The Daily Telegraph also reports that farmers are flocking to the Princes Highgrove estate to see organic production.
Later in the same newspaper, Dr Arpad Pusztai, the scientist whose research raised questions about the health implications of GM foods, gets a chance to reply to his critics in the letters column.
Pusztai makes the point that GM products have never been tested on humans.
In the page facing Pusztais letter, another contributor is given a column to rehearse the pro-GM arguments.
- Walston: Anti-GM protesters are fascists, FWi, 11 June, 1999
- Charles bans farmers from growing GMs, FWi, 11 June, 1999
- The Independent 14/06/99 page 2 (Letters to the Editor – Review)
- The Daily Telegraph 14/06/99 page 10, page 14, page 20, page 21 (Letters to the Editor)