Farmer’s viewpoint: BBC and other British media ‘continue to falsely imply that genetic engineering remains highly controversial and uncertain’

Credit: Internet Archive
Credit: Internet Archive

Phil Lodge, who farms on the outskirts of Doncaster, explained his reasons for taking part in the GM crop trials:

Having visited Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada in the 1990’s both pre- and post-adoption of GM canola, I was interested in the technology’s potential here in Britain.

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But despite more than 25 years of large-scale commercial cultivation of GM crops around the world, without a single negative health outcome for humans or animals, reporting of the issue in the British media continues to imply that genetic engineering remains highly controversial and uncertain.

“Where the BBC seems to accept the scientific evidence behind man-made climate change, and no longer pursues a policy of ‘false balance’ by giving equal airtime to climate change sceptics, the same cannot be said of their treatment of GMOs and genetic engineering in agriculture.

[Phil Lodge asks]“How long it will take before the global weight of scientific evidence behind the safety and efficacy of GM crops finally seeps into the consciousness of BBC journalists, editors and producers?”

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here

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