GM trials

national | environment | other press Monday February 13, 2006 22:13 by freek

Say nothing lads, When do we get a say?

Irish Farmers Journal reports the IFA and ICMSA and Macra na Feirme Ireland three largest farming bodies make no submissions on GM??

Why is that? I call shenanigans
http://www.gmfreeireland.org/ifm/index.php

It is the bioethics ctte who look at the ethics of GMO http://www.bioethics.ie/pdfs/GM%20Report1.pdf
The survey at the end is overwhelming negative. Yet they call for consumer choice!! I don't think trials would get sabotaged if people felt that there was a level playing field between the public and enviromental safety and corporations influence, even with biotethics committees and EPA environmentalists. The Bio-ethics Ctte conclusions are all very sensible but again I don't think the reflects the forces for and against GMO, the bioethics survey for Ireland and the well publicised GM Debate in the UK are overwhelmingly negative. There is this phrase "consumer choice", does the average consumer have choice in the USA to buy GM or not I don't think they do.

Just as this one is.

Most Irish consumers would turn down GM foods

Irish Independent, 13 February 2006. By Aideen Sheehan, Food Correspondent.

THE majority of Irish consumers would reject genetically modified foods even if they offered specific health benefits.

A new survey shows strong hostility to GM foods, even though a sizable minority would buy GM products under certain conditions.

Around 40pc of consumers might accept certain GM foods if they offered health benefits such as protection against cancer or lowering of cholesterol, but half this group had reservations that would have to be addressed first.

Teagasc asked 300 consumers for their reaction to two hypothetical new GM foods - a yogurt and a dairy spread - to gauge public attitudes to the types of GM foods that might come on stream in the near future.

The anti-GM group tended to be better educated, more health-conscious and keener on natural ingredients, while Dubliners were more likely to accept GM food than Munster people. Teagasc said the survey showed that GM foods were not widely accepted by Irish consumers, although a detailed analysis showed that clearly labelled GM dairy products with proven health benefits could get a share of the Irish food market.