Edinburgh - An international forum on the safety of genetically modified (GM) food got under way here yesterday with appeals for caution but also for reasoned assessment about these revolutionary yet controversial products.
"The public reaction to GM foods in the UK and I think in many countries represented here today shows there is a degree of concern and confusion," said the British Cabinet Minister, Dr Mo Mowlam, opening the conference. "We want to ensure potential benefits are fully researched and examined. But it is genuinely too early to be definitive," she said, reflecting a recent change of heart on GM food by the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair.
The three-day OECD conference gathers more than 400 biotechnologists, ecologists and government regulators from 21 countries with the goal of clarifying the risks and advantages. An Indian environmental campaigner, Ms Suman Sahai, said engineered crops were "primarily designed for corporate profit" that did not take into account the livelihoods of small farming or the goal of sustainable agriculture.