Still making the news after 50 years. Find out more about these controversial foods.
What are GM foods?
There are four main commercial crops: oilseed rape, cotton, maize and soya, which have had a foreign gene from an animal or virus inserted into the plant to make them either herbicide- or pest-resistant.
Why are some people worried about them?
There’s no evidence that this fiddling with nature is harmful to humans but, in 2003, UK farm trials concluded that GM farming harms the countryside: weedkillers kill weed seeds, leaving the beetles without any food, then both the birds – who feed on the beetles – and the beetles die...Also, modified crops could cross-pollinate with wild plants to create ‘super weeds’ resistant to pests.
Should we be concerned? Unlike the present government, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Prince Charles believe any benefits gained from cheap food to feed the world’s hungry are dwarfed by the environmental risks, and that there is no evidence that GM crops actually increase yields.
How can we tell if a food is GM?
There are almost no GM foods on sale in the UK as most supermarkets have banned them. But if animals eat GM feed, there is no legal obligation to declare it, so meat, eggs and dairy could be GM.