Monitor GM crops – NFU
Monitor GM crops – NFU
ENVIRONMENTAL effects of commercially grown, genetically modified crops in the UK should be monitored for 10 years by government, according to the NFU.
The union believes monitoring should be run and financed by government and not left in the hands of seed suppliers.
And results should form part of a review process that follows the approval of all newly introduced GM crops.
It argues that any possible effects on weeds and insects from herbicide tolerant or pesticide-containing GM plants should be monitored independently.
In its submission to the Commons agriculture committees inquiry into food safety and the proposed food standards agency, the NFU also calls for further government research on the inclusion of antibiotic resistance marker genes in some GMOs, which it believes is unwise and arouses unnecessary consumer concern.