Hang-up over GM foods cost children their sight, says Environment Secretary Owen Paterson

 
PA
14 October 2013
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Children are going blind in impoverished parts of the world because of the “hang-up” of opponents of GM foods, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson warned today.

The Cabinet minister accused campaigners against genetically modified foods of acting in a “wicked” way by scuppering the greater use of the technology, particularly in developing countries.

He attacked the anti-GM lobby, which includes Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, by highlighting work by campaigners to sabotage a crop of “golden rice” — which is fortified to combat blindness.

“It’s just disgusting that little children are allowed to go blind and die because of a hang-up by a small number of people about this technology,” Mr Paterson told The Independent.

“I feel really strongly about it. I think what they do is absolutely wicked.” He claimed the scrutiny placed on genetically modified organisms would make them safer foods than those produced using conventional means.

An area seven times the size of the UK was being used to cultivate GM crops and there was “no substantiated case” of an adverse impact on health, he said. “There are 17 million farmers, farming 170 million hectares which is 12 per cent of the world’s arable area… and no one has ever brought me a single case of a health problem.”

But opponents of GM methods say it contributes to intensive farming practices and pesticide use that are environmentally damaging and that it will not tackle problems facing agriculture or deliver secure food supplies for the world’s growing population.

The only benefits are for the large agricultural businesses that develop and sell the technology, they claim.

Separately, a cross-party alliance of MPs is pushing for the ban on fox-hunting to be relaxed to allow more than two dogs to be used to flush out foxes.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in