Poll shows support for figment of Bayer’s imagination

Comment (5 Nov 2016)

Press contact: Liz O'Neill, liz[at]gmfreeze.org, 07811 211 404

Commenting on a poll commisioned by Bayer, which showed 54% of UK adults agreeing with GM crops “in principle, provided there are no negative consequences related to health or the environment”, GM Freeze Director Liz O’Neill said:

Unfortunately, the agrochemical giant asked people to vote for a figment of its own imagination. Back in the real world all current examples of GM in food and farming have the kind of negative consequences that people don’t accept. Our food system must be safe for people, safe for wildlife and safe for the environment. Until GM crops meet those criteria we and the survey’s respondents will continue to reject it.

Eighty percent of GM crops are designed to tolerate repeated spraying with a herbicide which the WHO considers probably carcinogenic. The US National Academy of Sciences recently acknowledged that GM crops are causing “major agricultural problems.”  GM patents place farmers under the control of companies like Bayer, especially once its merger with Monsanto is complete. At a more fundamental level the GM model is intrinsically linked with monocultures. We face unprecedented challenges but resilience relies on diversity, not duping people into accepting technofixes.”