Minister accepts report on GM foods

The Minister for the Environment has said that, if Ireland operates a policy of transparency and scientific assessment with regard to genetically modified organisms, there should be no risk to health or the environment. Noel Dempsey has accepted as government policy a report published today, which rules out a ban on crop trials in this country, but stresses the need for full labelling of GM foods.

A report said that it would not be legally possible to ban trials of such crops here. The report also warns that, if Ireland rejects or ignores biotechnology, it will not remain attractive to investors in high-tech industries or competitive in food production.

This report has been compiled by the chairing panel for the government's first ever national debate on GMOs held earlier this year. The debate dealt with the deliberate release of GMOs into the environment, mainly through crops. Its conclusion is that it is not open to an individual EU member state to ban either field trials or the importation of genetically modified products approved at EU level.

Even if Ireland could impose a moratorium, the panel is not convinced of the need or wisdom of banning small-scale field trials of the type carried out here. The report stresses the value of biotechnology and says that Ireland cannot afford to ignore it. The group was not asked to deal with effects on food or human health as these are already taken into account by the EU directives. The chairing panel has found no evidence that genetic modification is in conflict with the ethics of the vast majority of the Irish public.

The report provides little comfort for those groups campaigning against GMOs, except that the panel agrees that the public should be given more information about developments in the area possibly by setting up an information agency.