Facts and Reason in the UK – A Biotech Turning Point
Posted by Dean Kleckner
The best-selling American author Bill Bryson is a devoted Anglophile who has written lovingly about life in Britain: “The fact is that this is still the best place in the world for most things--to post a letter, go for a walk, watch television, buy a book, venture out for a drink, go to a museum, use the bank, get lost, seek help, or stand on a hillside and take in the view.”
I’m not sure about all that--I don’t like getting rained on when I go for a walk or getting lost anywhere—but, having been there a number of times, I do think Britain is a nice place and the British a good people.
And I like it even better now that Tony Blair’s government has decided to let farmers in the United Kingdom grow genetically enhanced crops. Last week, it approved a variety of biologically enhanced corn in a move suggesting that Britain may follow Spain and become the second European country to engage in the large-scale growth of genetically enhanced crops.
The decision came after a government report determined that the newly approved strain of biologically improved corn is better for the environment (the birds and bees) than non-biotech alternatives. The British Medical Association also reversed an earlier statement and now says biotech enhanced foods aren’t a health risk.
This is a welcome development. Many Europeans have responded to the biotech revolution in agriculture with fear rather than reason. Some of this was understandable after an outbreak of both mad-cow and foot and mouth disease in the 1990s undermined public confidence in the safety of food. The enemies of biotechnology, from Greenpeace to the inaptly named Friends of the Earth, tried to exploit the situation by playing on emotions.
I’ve always said that emotions grab an early lead in any argument but ultimately the facts will win out. This is exactly what has now happened in Britain. The approval of a single biotech crop is especially encouraging because no European country was more affected by the mad-cow problem than Britain. It is enormously satisfying to watch the UK allow reason to triumph over fear.
We may be reaching a turning point in Europe’s reluctance to accept biotech foods. The EU soon will publish biotech labeling rules, which may boost consumer confidence. That’s the hope, anyway. The devil is always in the details and we’ll have to assess those rules when they’re published in the next few weeks.
What’s more, the EU appears to be on the brink of abandoning its six-year moratorium on new biotech crop approvals. “I think the anti-GM phobia is starting to subside,” said David Bowe, a British member of the European Parliament in the Wall Street Journal.
This is all good news. At the same time, we must realize that the British decision is far from perfect. Britain doesn’t actually grow much corn and it will be a year before the new approval influences the planting choices of farmers. Moreover, in approving one kind of biotech corn, it rejected two other crops. Finally, as the government was announcing its approval, environmental secretary Margaret Beckett declared that the industry may have to compensate UK farmers who suffer financial losses if biotech enhanced plants cross pollinate with other crops. This sort of policy may very well keep Britain from embracing biotechnology as vigorously as it should.
Thankfully, Prime Minister Blair has seen the big picture clearly. Two years ago, he visited India, met with scientists, and was surprised by their criticisms. “Europe has gone soft on science; we are going to leapfrog you and you will miss out,” they told him. Blair summarized their view: “They regarded the debate on [biotechnology] here and elsewhere in Europe as utterly astonishing. They saw us as completely overrun by protestors and pressure groups who used emotion to drive out reason. And they don’t think we had the political will to stand up for proper science.”
Blair himself seemed to agree with them--and announced that it was time for Britain and the rest of Europe to move forward. “In GM crops,” he said, “I can find no serious evidence of health risks.”
Much of the rest of the world reached this conclusion long ago. It’s too bad the Europeans have taken so long to get to the same place, if that is indeed what they’re now doing. All the same, we should be glad they’re at least taking a few steps in our direction.
News 
The best-selling American author Bill Bryson is a devoted Anglophile who has written lovingly about life in Britain: “The fact is that this is still the best place in the world for most things--to post a letter, go for a walk, watch television, buy a book, venture out for a drink, go to a museum, use the bank, get lost, seek help, or stand on a hillside and take in the view.”
