GM FOOD

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid! Should people be so scared of GM food?
5 September 2003

	Andy Brownlow accused Aspinall of scaremongering.
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As the national debate continues to rage over the safety and long-term effects of GM food, a local scientist accuses pressure group AWARE of exaggeration, scaremongering and misleading the public.

Andy Brownlow, a laboratory technician at the college, has accused Ben Aspinall, Northern Divisional Spokesman for AWARE, of distributing inaccurate information during his current protest against supermarket chain U Save. "His literature suggests that pretty soon we will all be digesting the gene of a rat when we munch on a tomato and he is virtually telling people that by eating spaghetti bolognese they will get some kind of BSE and GM mixed superbug. It's just complete rubbish but people believe him because they are scared. Even Jenny, his girlfriend, who is very intelligent, believes all this nonsense. I'm concerned about some aspects of GM too, but I don't agree with scaring people and misinforming them".

Aspinall said in his defence, "I make no bones about the fact that I am setting out to scare people, but I don't think it is without reason. The issue of GM is very frightening indeed. In the last ten years we have seen a wave of disasters which have shaken our faith in the food industry to its roots. BSE, E-coli, Salmonella, all terrifying things and all in the food we have been eating. Now we have GM food and we have no idea of the long term effects that such tampering might have. I think that we should all be afraid. Very afraid."

Indeed, the issue of food safety in Britain was thrust into the limelight after the emergence of BSE in cattle, together with the serious out break of food-poisoning caused by Escherichia coli 0157 and the recent foot and mouth epidemic cast great doubts on food safety in general. Although none of these incidents has any link with genetic engineering, the waves of negative publicity and misinformation surrounding GM foods have proposed and reinforced the perception that GM foods could be harmful. This, despite the fact that, as yet, scientists have found no evidence that GM food has any long lasting harmful effects on human health. Most scientists think that genetically modified foods are safe, yet the public remains uneasy.