Mark Lynas, a former eco-warrior who, five years ago, made a dramatic U-turn from trying to shut down scientific research to defending it, told farmers and scientists that African anti-GMO campaigners had used bans by western governments as an argument to question the technology’s safety.
“Don’t ever think that the policies you might have here in Scotland don’t directly affect the food security of people in Africa and other developing countries, because they do,” he said.
“The policies of the SNP and other parties that persist in superstitious attitudes towards GMOs directly harm the interests of some of the poorest people in the world, and I think it’s a terrible shame to be carrying on promoting them,” he added.
Speaking after his lecture to the Scottish Society for Crop Research in Dundee, Mr Lynas said he believed the SNP’s administration’s approach to GMOs was ideological and would take “a lot of shifting”.
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“It’s a travesty of Scotland’s proud history as a world leader of scientific discovery to have a scientific institute here in Scotland funded by government which is unable to carry out its work,” he said
Read full, original post: GM convert claims Scottish ban has impact around world
