英国国会反对转基因产品

Although the government is believed to want to allow transgenic crops to be grown in Britain, it will find the negative report hard to ignore, in part because of recent accusations that it ignored public opinion over its decision to go to war with Iraq.

The results of this summer's 'GM Nation?' debate, a series of some 670 public meetings that attracted up to 20,000 participants, reveal a British public uneasy with the potential environmental, health and socio-economic effects of transgenic crops. More than half the participants who returned feedback forms after the debate said they never wanted to see GM crops grown in Britain, according to a report due to be released on 24 September.

The government commissioned the exercise to help it decide whether to give the go-ahead for commercialization of transgenic crops. Britain, along with other European Union countries, will begin voting later this year on whether to license some 15 new varieties of transgenic crop, ending a five-year moratorium on new approvals.

Industry representatives say that the results of the debate were skewed by the presence of environmental activists at the meetings, but the result may still put pressure on the government.