EU consumers say GMO food is risk to society: poll

By Jeremy Smith

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – 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.

While there was general support for medical and industrial
biotechnology, EU citizens polled in nearly all the bloc’s 25
countries remained skeptical 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 skeptical,” 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 were: if a GMO food was healthier than other
foods; if it contained fewer pesticide residues; if it was
grown in a more environmentally friendly way; if it was
approved by the relevant authorities; if 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.

Europe’s shoppers are well known for their wariness toward
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.
Europe’s hostility to GMO foods is unfounded, it says.

The survey, conducted last year by a group of academics at
the request of the European Commission’s polling arm
Eurobarometer, covered 25,000 people in the EU’s 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 authorizations on their behalf,
saying EU rules on risk assessments, and requirements on
traceability and labeling requirements, guarantee the products’
safety.

But that was no guarantee for consumers, the survey said.

“The introduction of the new regulations on the
commercialization of GM crops and the labeling of GM food
appears to have done little to allay the European public’s
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.”