| Michael Meacher, the former environment minister, has
accused Tony Blair's spin doctors and ministers of systematically ignoring
or rubbishing the evidence that genetically modified crops could be a health
hazard or could harm the environment.
Mr Meacher's warning is calculated to ignite the public debate on genetic
modification as the Government prepares an official report that is expected
to clear the way for GM foods to go on sale on supermarket shelves.
During his six years as Minister for the Environment in Tony Blair's government,
Mr Meacher was rumoured to be almost a lone voice seeking to delay the
commercial cultivation of GM crops until more scientific evidence had been
built up about their effects.
Writing in today's Independent on Sunday, in his first published article
since being sacked by Mr Blair, Mr Meacher lists a series of reports and
findings which suggest that the full impact of GM technology is still dangerously
unpredictable. Many of the health tests carried out are "scientifically
vacuous", he claims.
In one of the most damning passages, he says: "The only human GM trial,
commissioned ironically by the Food Standards Agency, found that genetically
modified DNA did in fact transfer to bacteria in the human gut. Previously
many scientists had denied that this was possible.
"But instead of this finding being regarded as a serious discovery
which should be checked and re-checked, the spin was that this was nothing
new and did not involve any health risk."
In a television interview to be broadcast this morning, Mr Meacher suggests
that the push to have GM foods on sale in the UK has been backed by "senior
people in government who are committed to the biotechnology industry".
Though he did not mention names, it is likely that one of the people Mr
Meacher had in mind is the Science minister, Lord Sainsbury, whose family
owns the supermarket chain.
"There is nothing wrong with biotechnology, in terms of drugs and
pharmaceuticals," Mr Meacher tells GMTV's Sunday Programme. "The
only issue is our food. There are people who are strongly in favour. Tony
Blair, it is said, is one of them, but of course there are others."
When challenged by Mr Meacher over GM foods in the Commons last week, the
Prime Minister dropped another strong hint that he is in favour of seeing
them on sale in the shops. He said he was "worried by voices here
and in the rest of Europe" that did not give what he called "proper
consideration" to the potential benefits of GM technology.
Mr Meacher also confirms what most observers had suspected, that he was
sacked by Mr Blair, although the official Downing Street announcement said
that he had "resigned".
Until last week, Mr Meacher, 63, had served longer as a minister and frontbench
opposition spokesman than anyone else in government, having been on the
front bench for 27 of the past 29 years since Harold Wilson appointed him
a junior industry minister in 1974.
The Government is due to make a decision on GM foods later in the year,
after the publication of a report next month by a team headed by the Government's
chief scientific adviser, David King. The study is intended to be the most
authoritative to date.
GM foods can be bought at supermarkets in the United States and have been
consumed by millions of people, none of whom are known to have suffered
any harmful effects.
The Paris-based International Council for Science published a study last
week which concluded that the GM foods already on sale are harmless, though
its report warned that there was uncertainty about more complex products
that have not yet reached the market.
© 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=417828
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