Most Europeans believe that genetically modified (GMO) foods should not be encouraged and see biotech crops as posing a risk to society, a survey requested by the European Commission showed on Thursday (22/06). While there was general support for medical and industrial biotechnology, EU citizens polled in nearly all the blocs 25 countries remained sceptical about biotech used in agriculture.

"The lesson for agri-food biotechnology is that unless new crops and products are seen to have consumer benefits, the public will continue to be sceptical," the survey said. "Overall, Europeans think that GM food should not be encouraged. GM food is widely seen as not being useful, as morally unacceptable and as a risk for society," it said.

Based on five reasons suggested to consumers for why they might want to buy GMO foods, it ranked average support among EU citizens for GMO foods at 27 percent -- against more than 50 percent for nanotechnology, pharmacogenetics and gene therapy. The reasons proposed for possibly choosing a GMO food were: if it was healthier than other foods; it contained fewer pesticide residues; it was grown in a more environmentally friendly way; it was approved by the relevant authorities; it was cheaper than other foods.

Only in Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Spain and the Czech Republic did GMO supporters outnumber opponents. Opinions on the acceptability of buying biotech food were mixed, it said. The most persuasive reasons related to health, reducing pesticide residues and environmental impact. Europes shoppers are well known for their wariness towards GMO products, often dubbed as "Frankenstein foods".

But the biotech industry says its products are perfectly safe since they are no different to conventional foods. Europes hostility to GMO foods is unfounded, it says. The survey, conducted last year by a group of academics at the request of the European Commissions polling arm Eurobarometer, covered 25,000 people in the EUs 25 countries.

While the EU restarted approvals of GMO products in 2004 after a break of almost six years, the end of its unofficial biotech ban did not come with the blessing of all its 25 governments -- which repeatedly fail to agree on GMO policy. Since the moratorium ended, the European Commission has rubberstamped some 10 new authorisations on their behalf, saying EU rules on risk assessments, and requirements on traceability and labelling requirements, guarantee the products safety.

But that was no guarantee for consumers, the survey said. "The introduction of the new regulations on the commercialisation of GM crops and the labelling of GM food appears to have done little to allay the European publics anxieties about agri-food biotechnology," it said. "The years of controversy have led many people in Europe to believe that anything to do with GM food is undesirable."
(By Jeremy Smith, Planet Ark, 23/06/2006)