Survey shows Europeans fearful of GM foods and cloning

April 27
PA News

Many Europeans are fearful  of  genetically  modified  foods  and
cloning  because  they  are not well informed about these issues,
according to a European Commission survey released today.  

``There is this great anxiety among Europeans in  food  safety,''
said  Axel  Kahn,  head of an 11 member European Union scientific
committee on biotechnology.  

The EC,  which mandated the poll concluded ``the European  public
is not well informed about bio-science issues.'' 

It said more needed to be done to inform the public about GM food
and  cloning  practices  that  aim  to fight diseases and improve
living conditions.  The  commission  plans  to  launch  a  public
debate   in  the  autumn  on  these  issues,   said  EU  Research
Commissioner Philippe Busquin.  

In the survey,  conducted late last year,  over 26%  of Europeans
said  they  ''strongly  disagree''  that health risks from eating
genetically modified foods  were  acceptable.   Danes  were  most
skeptical: half of them questioned such foodstuffs, also known as
genetically modified organisms (GMO).  

The  least sceptical were the Portuguese of whom only 14%  have a
problem with GM food.  

In Britain, 32%  strongly disagreed and in Ireland the figure was
27%.  

Ironically,  support  for genetically altered crops as opposed to
food, scored a higher support rating across the EU.  Altering the
genetic make-up of foodstuffs as a weapon against  crop  diseases
has  become  a  politically  charged  issue  in Europe because of
perceived health concerns.  

``GMO foods are the issue that causes the greatest trouble in the
EU -  usefulness is a  precondition  of  support,''  said  George
Gaskell, an analyst at the London School of Economics.  

A majority of Europeans believe the genetic cloning of animals to
be ``morally unacceptable,'' according to the EU study.  Only 34%
found that to be humane.  

However,  cloning  of  human cells and tissues was seen as useful
and moral.  

Gaskell said ''few people associate Dolly the sheep with  medical
applications.  Most think cloning is scientists going barmy.'' 

Support  for new biotechnologies has met with skepticism over the
past years in Europe.  Fears about GM food come hard on the heels
of a crisis in the mid-1990s over BSE that led to an all-out  ban
on  British  beef  exports.   That  ban  has still not been fully
lifted.  

Because European public opinion  is  divided  on  the  risks  and
benefits  of  genetically  altered  foods,   crops  and  animals,
licensing has stalled in recent years of new genetically  altered
products and patents.  

Gaskell  pointed  out  support  for  new biotechnologies was much
higher in the United States and Canada,  noting  consumers  there
were  ``more  optimistic''  and  had  greater trust in their food
safety regulators.