BRITAIN has a dismal record on issues like this. First it was BSE. More
recently, foot and mouth disease. And in between there was genetically modified
food. When will we learn that with issues as fundamental as food and health, the
government will get nowhere by simply insisting that there is no danger, if
people think it is putting industry profits ahead of public well-being?
At least with GM foods, the government did one thing right: it set up the
Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission. When the commission began
work in July 2000, one-third of its members were arch-critics of…
