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If GM food is so good why don't the producers boast about it in big letters on the front of the pack. The fact that they are trying to make us eat this wretched stuff without realising it simply demonstrates their contempt for consumers.
Malory Davies, England

GM Food is no better for the consumer than natural food - so why take such unpredictable risks? But its not just a matter of safety - growing these foods could devastate the environment and put organic farmers out of business through cross-pollination. Third World farmers could be permanently indebted to biotech companies, from whom they must buy new seeds and special herbicides to go with them every year. As consumers we have a responsibility to help farmers and the environment by boycotting GM foods.
Robert Vint, UK

There's a lot of misunderstanding, - eg humans have certainly NOT been genetically modifying food for the last 20,000-plus years; GM is fundamentally different from selective breeding and we don't understand the mechanism of genetics beyond the most rudimentary this-seems-to-cause-that level. Our urge to tinker should be left in abeyance for years until we do understand. In the meantime, testing of crops by misinformed agriculturists for a couple of years when you don't know what they're looking for will hardly safeguard our environment - which is an issue quite separate from whether it is safe to eat GM foods.
Malcolm Mellon

I don't think the benefits of GM food, if any, outweigh all the associated risks.
Clive Singleton, UK

People should most definitely have a choice whether to eat GM foods or not. I certainly do not want myself or my son eating it.
Lyn Janczak, England

On a recent radio show people were asked to suggest appropriate records to describe the current GM debate. The winner, not surprisingly, was "Monster Mash". However this may reflect the almost universal scare-mongering reporting of this topic by the UK press. Another choice of record could have been "Feed the World". GM technology has a lot of potential benefits, which seem to have been overlooked. Plants may be able to grow in otherwise hostile environments. It may be possible to increase natural defence mechanisms (against attack from pests and diseases). There is a danger that in the clamour over "Frankenstein Foods" we lose sight of the many potential benefits that GM technology could bring.
William Eason, UK

A pathetic and seriously dangerous attempt to gain commerce advantage/control. YES I would avoid and shun GM and encourage others to do likewise.
Shekinah Rae, USA

What's the point of a 5-year moratorium? Why 5 years? What happens when the 5 years are up?
Tom Miller-Jones, England

When was the last time you ate a ripe tomato? Like many others, I have no alternative to those sold by the big supermarkets who, I am convinced, have specially trained a team of purchasers to buy fruit and vegetables that go from unripe to off without a period of ripeness in between. I have heard it is possible to genetically modify tomatoes so they ripen without becoming soft, and this should lead to ripe tomatoes on the supermarket shelves. I can't wait.
Damon Wischik, UK

The GM issue is 90% hysteria. We are in great danger of going back to the dark ages the media reporting has been completely biased and ignorant why do people keep harping on to 'the natural way'. Is there REAL SCIENTIFIC any evidence that organic food is safe or better?
S Lee, UK

No I would not eat GM foods and as a consumer I should have the right to be clearly informed which items contain GM products. As for all these American politicians who want to force their GM products and their HORMONE BEEF on to European consumers - please keep your products to yourself. Ever wondered whether the hormone beef is the cause of so many overweight people in America? I am convinced it has something to do with it. Let's keep things natural. If we start breeding crops which produce more on less land how many more farmers in Europe will be out of work? I bet they have not thought that one out yet!
Margaret Carre, Belgium

I have read and heard enough in the media to make me not want to buy these products. I want a choice in what I feed my family so I would like to see all GM products labelled as such. I would not buy them, I prefer to buy organic produce when I can.
Carolyn Penfold, UK

In a free society everyone should have the right to choose whether to eat GM foods or not. Unfortunately as foods are not clearly and accurately labelled we are not in a position to make that choice.
Keith Richards, UK

Is there really a need for GM food when naturally grown food has been sustaining all life forms on earth for centuries?
Charlie Chan, Malaysia

It appears to be for the increased profit of manufacturers/producers.
M S Drever, UK

It's all a storm in the proverbial teacup - hygiene still is the biggest health risk associated with food (food poisioning killing off far more than BSE, pesticides, etc all the other favourite bogies of fanatics put together). And humans have long manipulated the genes of domesticated plants and animals - eg wild apples are small and sour, wolves are a bit more fierce than your domestic mutt . . .
Ali, New Zealand

We always check the labels on food and have returned GM food in the past when we did bought it unknowingly. I would prefer to avoid it. I don't have a problem with it being sold but want clear labelling and a proper alternative. The damage to the environment is also very concerning and needs longer scrutiny for a conclusion to be drawn.
Anne Walraven, UK

The government should make it compulsory for food manufacturers to stick a nice big, clear "GM" label on any product sold on UK shelves that contains this dubious material. At the very least GIVE US THE CHOICE.
Robert Boord, England

It is silly to avoid GM plants on principle. Some changes are harmless or even beneficial. I don't avoid "frankenfood" in general, but there are some specific genetic changes that are bad ideas. For example, there is nothing wrong with tomatoes that have been bred to ripen late or vegetables that have been bred to produce more B vitamins. On the other hand, I would hesitate to eat food from plants that are bred to secrete insecticidal substances. Why? Because the plant-derived pesticides are just as likely to be carcinogenic as the synthetic ones.
James Castro, USA

I would eat genetically modified only if all scientist found conclusive evidence to say that GM food is safe, but as this is not the case I'm presently not eating it.
Lisa Walker, UK

Food grown under conditions of high pesticide use are far more dangerous than GM foods, Any measure to reduce the use of pesticides should be cautiously welcomed.
Tony, England

There is no reason that Genetic Modified food should make a difference to the consummer. It's the traits NOT the genes that matter it the end. All agriculture is artificial,whether it's high tech or low tech. We are no longer hunter/gathers. As long as the traits themselves are benign I won't worry about the genes that code for the amino acids that make proteins. It's not good business to poison your customers so the companies aren't going to shot themselves in the foot. The genes themselves are not active in foods that you eat anyway. I have no problem with science or technology per se as long as the choices made are based on sound logic and empricism.
mike pytel, USA

I have no desire to eat foods genetically modified for profits (or any other reason). Leave genetics to the real expert - evolution. We should not be messing with such things without fully knowing the consequences to both our own health and the environment. What happens if we release a GM food now and then in 50 - 100 years find it has serious environmental consequences? The plant would have cross pollinated with non GM plants and we would never be able to undo our mistake.
Nicholas Allen, Guernsey

Given that GM food only makes sense for economic reasons rather than to promote better heath, I will not go near it. Let's hope the Government is saving up to pay for the claims against them in the years to come.
Carl Downing, UK

Normal healthy food only please ... not another BSE.
David Lester, UK

GM food covers a very large range. There is no reason for a GM product to be good or bad just because it has been modified. The same applies to organic foods.
People are comparing GM foods to BSE. How many people have been affected (physically rather than financially) by BSE? The total victims of new variant CJD in the UK is apparently less than 40, which may or may not be related to BSE. This seems quite a small number for such a massively hyped problem, which if the scaremongers were to be believed should be killing thousands. Maybe we should be questioning whether there really was a BSE problem, and if the lesson to be learnt is not to fall for popular hysteria.
Keith Walker, UK

I am disgusted that I am being prevented from eating 'beef on the bone' and yet something that is potentially so dangerous (and largely unknown) is being sold without any legislation.
Ian Hermon, UK

Genetic engineering and selective breeding are not the same thing, as a few people seem to have claimed here. Natural reproduction involves dozens of biochemical control systems to govern the process and to ensure that the new genetic code is stable, to oversee the complex interplay of dominant and recessive genes, etc. That's why pigs give birth to piglets rather than ducklings, and why each new generation of pigs doesn't have to be rigorously tested as a new food product.
Shoe-horning the genes from one species into the DNA of another is completely different. The new organism can be radically different from the parent, and that's why it has to be thoroughly tested before it can be sold as food.
I'm not against GM food, quite the opposite. The potential benefits are enormous. But you can't generalise and say all GM food is good, or all GM food is bad. So long as each new organism is tested for safety and environmental impact, the research should continue. Stopping scientific progress is never the answer.
Simon, UK

I am very worried about the environmental impact of GM foods. In the US this is not so much of a problem because of the geographical size of their farmlands. Enormous swathes of land the size of Scotland and Wales are for agricultural purposes only. These areas have local economies that are geared to agriculture. The UK is geographically totally different!
Growing GM crops could have an impact on wild plants, animals and insects. A lot of arable farmland in the UK is near areas of natural outstanding beauty whereas in the US there are still vast areas of rural, wild and remote areas.
John Rutherford, England

I don't think that labelling GM foods accomplishes anything as it would not tell the consumer much about the genetic modification that has taken place. While there are genetic modifications that can lead to dangerous products, there are other modifications that would be no more dangerous than mixing tomatoes and lettuce in a salad. In those cases where the genetic modification has any potential for harm, government must take rigorous measures to assure safety. I would be more concerned about potential environmental damage caused by plants that can escape their range. Most vicious weeds are plants that were introduced for some supposed benefit.
Ed Margerum, Massachusetts, USA

GM food appears to be motivated purely for commercial reasons - in the same way that the practices leading to BSE were.
I do not trust politicians or scientists to protect the people's interests - they are apparently funded (openly or covertly) by the very organisations that stand to profit from this new technology.
It is a dangerous development that should be resisted at all costs.
I note that grain and soya imports into the UK from the USA are already a mixture of GM and organic type products - this MUST be banned - there is far too much at risk for the sake of a quick profit.
I am not a guinea pig and do not wish to be treated as one.
Ian, UK

No chance, the genetic modifications we are seeing are wholly un-natural. We are inserting genes that we could never cross breed into a species. This is dangerous and benefits only the big multi-nationals, and does nothing to help bio-diversity.
Michael Bond, UK

BSE frightened people because there was an unknown for scientists. This is simply not true for GM foods - they pose no possibility of harm to the consumer. There are however, ecological questions to pose, and we do not know enough to say there is absolutely no risk of harm to some species. In a purist sense, it is possible that one or two species bearing say three or five 'new' (to them) genes may displace one or two species bearing tens of thousands of unknown genes (but probably all common genes actually), from certain environments.
This is a theoretical risk I would accept without hesitation, as there is no doomsday horror scenario. However I can understand that some environmentalists may live in a private world of imagined fears. Please do not let them stop important progress for mankind.
J C Caygill, UK

Enough already! Nature has done a good enough job for the past billion years (or whatever it is) so why do greedy scientists and developers have to start meddling to their own financial ends. Goodness only knows what it will do to our as yet, unborn children. It is not a question of playing God (what nonsense) but of mending something that ain't broken. Having tomatoes that taste of tomatoes would be a great improvement, and this surely cannot be achieved by injecting fish genes. Stuff the fact that they might sit on the shelf a bit longer. Food is there to be eaten, not as a decoration! Puh-lease, it's as ridiculous an idea as feeding meat to herbivores. Oops what HAVE I said?
E Coldwell, UK

I don't see a difference between cross-breeding plants through trial and error, which genetically modifies their genes to improve the yield, size, taste and health of crops - which has been going on for millennia - and genetically modifying their genes scientifically. In principle I prefer science to trial and error.
Mark Moore, England

I am absolutely fed up of imbecilic references to 'frankenstein foods'. If the complainers have something to say, let's hear it delivered intelligently and in a detailed, accurate form.
At present they only seem interested in appealing to the most stupid in society.
Alan Potter, UK

It's ridiculous that when Europe is already over-producing so many foods that we are risking our health and that of the environment by using this technology. It clearly hasn't been tested thoroughly, and plans to start growing GM crops here are wholly due to pressure from the companies involved - not a desire or need to grow greater quantities of food. We don't need GM food - I'd rather go organic.
Liz, UK

I am a vegan and it is difficult enough as it is, with trace elements being excluded from a label, to know whether any food contains an animal ingredient or cruelty to animals. If GM food did become readily available for the consumer, how are people to know whether or not the redder tomato has used animal GM procedures.
Finally, what happened to democracy where we could vote, and not have something as important as the food we put into our mouths, a decision made on our behalf (not benefit).
Michelle Joy, Great Britain

GM food has been going on for years now. Why all of a sudden the fuss? If one is going to be effected by it, chances are they already have been.
Stacey, UK

Meat on the bone was banned by this government when it's perceived risk was barely measurable. What commercial interests convince them such an irreversible risk as GM foods is acceptable?
Glenn Williams, Wales

It worries me that things are done to our food without our really being aware of it. We are constantly being bombarded with "new and improved" things without really knowing the whole story. Scary!
Mary Jane Herbert, USA

I would - and do - avoid GM food for health, ethical, environmental and political reasons - but its not easy when there is no compulsory labelling scheme in the UK.
Austen, England

Its BSE all over again.
G Leece, Scotland

Eat GM food? You bet! Mmmmmm. It's my favourite. Can I get GM ice cream?
Thomas Threlkeld USA

I'd avoid GM food if only I could!
Have we learned nothing from the BSE crisis ... except maybe not to trust the politicians?
Peter Warnes, UK

We've been eating cloned bananas for years; I never knew it until recently but I'm no worse off for it. Still, I think all foods should be labelled - I have a right to know where this stuff came from and what went into it.
T.J. Cassidy, U.S.A.

Why avoid the food? The geneticist and the companies are being very careful not to introduce anything harmful into the food. They have to eat it also, and the law suites would break any company that did market a harmful GM food.
Richard T. Ketchum, USA

The increasing tendency to purchase organic food to the point where supermarkets are barely able to keep up with demand should be the only sign the government need to stop the production of GM food. Once labelling becomes obligatory, GM food will be left on the shelves and the only option will be to stop production due to complete lack of demand. That it is unthinkable to jeopardise our health in the future in the name of GREED and PROFITABILITY is an indication of just how sick this world has become. Back to simplicity is the only way forward. I wish I were on another planet.
Elizabeth Coldwell, UK

I think any advance in technology should be warmly embraced. I don't understand why people are so afraid of anything different.
Jane Callan, UK

I think the EU should make it compulsory to label correctly. Here in Austria the labelling of food is vastly inferior to that in England.
Rev. Rodney C. Simmonds, Austria

Nobody can be sure if GM is safe or not. And if it weren't we cannot turn back what we have changed. I don't beleive in human science to risk the health of myself and of coming generations.
Virag Kaufer, Hungary

I am more concerned about the possible damage to the environment. We may be opening a "Pandora's Box".
Alan W Roberts, Wales

I try to, but in the USA, it's impossible to know for certain what is genetically modified and what isn't. The consumer debates over such things are already finished here, the consumers have lost, the GM food producers have won: no labels, no advisement, nothing. But If I had the choice, I would never buy or eat such foods. As the old saying goes, "don't mess with mother nature." Plants are as they are for specific reasons. To tamper with the balance of nature via genetic manipulation will have unpredictable and usually negative results. Let's not push our luck.
Steve Kenney, USA

Is it a coincidence that the more we tamper with what nature gives us, the more diseases (cancer, diabetes, asthma)? Natural food has been good enough to keep the human race going for thousands of years as it isn't as if there isn't enough to go around, while farmers are forced to destroy their produce to make a living and prevent food mountains. This is just another example of (the) government's trying to put a hold on the public, making us do what they say, see what they say, hear what they say, eat what they say and be what they say.
Richard Hodges, UK

I think that science has made amazing leaps forward in recent years. No, I wouldn't avoid GM food, simply because I feel we very badly need scientific progress, not medieval thinking.
Salena Moffat, USA

The GM scare is more a phenomenon of media-induced mass-hysteria than any real scientific fear. Once again, environmental and christian charities, whose knowledge of science is limited at its best, attempt to project their irrational views on the public. And it seems they are beginning to succeed. Scientists in the meantime, are too busy to waste their time in these pointless debates, and concentrate on the work that we pay them to do: generate better living conditions via scientific progress. Moreover, if Britain imposes a five-year freeze on GM technology, then it will lose its lead in the biotechnology industry, to be overtaken by France and the United States. When will we learn not to fear what is new?
Nicolas Jarraud, UK

Eating GM food could easily turn out to be a short term interest for those who profit from it, but the price to pay for the longer term effects could turn out to be far too much than what we bargained for. Does this food scarce not remind one of the initial scarce which surrounded those who assumed that Mad Cow Disease was just an exaggeration? There is already so much processed food in the UK. The prevalence of GM could mean that the whole food chain of plants and livestocks in the UK could end up being contaminated.
Kevin Lee UK

It is sickening that the press have allowed themselves to be turned into a political football by the green movement again. Reasoned debate between people "in the know" is what is required, not these green fascists trying to whip up an angry mob!!
Ian Lowe, Scotland

The people assuring us that GM foods are safe are the same ones who told us drugs like Thalidomide were safe. Need I say more?
Nesta, Glasgow

The PM programme on BBC Radio 4 recently interviewed a proprietor or chef from a restaurant frequented by MPs. He stated that GM foods were not (or could not be) sold in the House of Commons restaurant(s). If this is so, it speaks volumes as to the 'official' confidence in GM foods.
Trefor Griffith, UK

Messing with the genetic building blocks of life could have drastic effects on our own. If our world has existed for millions of years and is balanced in its genetic build-up. i.e. our bodies know a virus and are equipped to deal with it. What happens then when bacteria become mutated through some other genetic modifications? In short, these scientists could be releasing potentially devastating effects on our world. Destroying the balance we have with nature could alter our world irreversibly. Messing with the building blocks of life is like fiddling with the foundations of a sky-scraper... sooner of later its going to fall and take a lot of things with it.
Chris Williamson, Scotland

People seem to be confusing selective breeding - where humans select plants/animals with useful characteristics and breed them ('naturally') - with genetically engineered organisms where a laboratory is used to cut a piece of DNA from one organism and spice it into another. The problem with this method is that you do not just get one gene and we do not necessarily know what the other gene(s) do. So how can we know that it's safe? Leaving a 2ft border round a field won't make a ha'porth of difference - how far can the wind blow pollen across the Lincolnshire 'prairies'?
Trish Carter, UK

I think that labelling should be better, but I am happy to eat GM food, I think it's just another food scare, if a few months it will be something else.
Marc Fuller, UK

What's all the fuss about, people are quite willing to smoke and drink (alcohol), both which have detrimental effects on our health but won't eat GM food's which are SCIENTIFICALLY proven to be safe!!
Duncan Green, England

One of your respondents compares genetic modification with selective breeding. If he can successfully cross a fish with a tomato, I will willingly dine on GM foods for the rest of my life! Seriously though, I think the motivation is corporate greed, and there has been inadequate research. We must be given the choice, and GMOs must be prevented from contaminating nature until the consequences are fully understood.
Dave Robinson, UK

First, Dr Arpad Puzstai fed GM food to a rat. Then the Prime Minister admits he is happy to eat GM food. Hmmm, perhaps this is the link. I'm taking no chances. I'll avoid it (if possible!) thanks.
O G Fox, England

If GM food is so good then why is it not being advertised? Every food manufacturer or producer advertises the latest products (such as new designs for potato chips, new meat products to tempt children). Even during the BSE scare there were adverts around promoting the taste and goodness of meat. So why is there nothing proclaiming the presence of GM products in food if it is meant to be so good? Why are we not being encouraged to buy a certain product over its rival because it has GM food products in it?
E Barlow, UK

I'm of two minds on this. The problem that I have is that I originally trained as a Biochemist/Toxicologist and have a reasonable understanding of what the testing regime required for any new compound/drug should be. As such the release of any GMO must be on a case by case basis. Blanket comments that all GMOS should be avoided or accepted don't make sense.
Chris Barlow-Smith, England

I would be happy to eat any GM food that had been demonstrated to be as safe as its non-GM equivalent. Surely that's why we actually test the stuff?
David Marshall, UK

I find it hard to understand people who pontificate about the dangers of GM food whilst happily smoking 20 cigarettes a day and drinking bucket-loads of booze. These are the punters that tell us beef is still dangerous. I have some advice for the scaremongers: go out and have a fat steak carved off the bone with a nice plate of GM vegetables. Oh yeah, and don't forget the smoke for afters.
Ryan Stevenson, Scotland

I am not in the least worried about eating foods currently being marketed which contain genetically modified ingredients. I believe that the widespread fear of such products is nothing but hysteria. The opposition comes mainly from groups promoting organic foods and have a special interest in ecological issues. I am not trying to discredit these pressure groups, but I feel that on this issue much of the public reaction is based upon ignorance and a lack of a proper understanding of the underlying science. Genetic engineering of plants offers enormous potential for overcoming the problems raised by nature which cause failing crops. Humankind would be very foolish indeed if such techniques were discarded out of hand by some silly medieval notion of "Frankenstein Foods"!
Phil Hall, UK

The thought of GM food entering the food chain without consumer knowledge scares me. The Government is supporting the use of GM foods, but without considering the long term impact. How can anyone be aware of the dangers that may or may not exist 20 years from now, if the genetics in these foods were to mutate. A field a GM wheat could cross pollenate with a field of un-GMd wheat - the results are unpredicatable - then it could happen again, each time producing a different variant - some may be beneficial, others leathal - how can one safeguard against nature, or hope to control it?
David Russell, UK

GM food is just a scape goat for a subdued media. The chemicals and battery farming methods pose a much greater threat to our health, but of cause that wouldn't breed our fears in technology. Mary Shelley would look on and laugh.
Ben Hoyle, UK

If GM crops are being made to be more pest resistant, then that implies that pests are reluctant to eat them. So if pests don't want to eat GM crops, why the hell should humans?!
Stuart Walsh, The Netherlands

On asking whether the labelling could be improved on products, Bird's Eye customer support asked if I expected to see a large red DANGER sticker! On a serious note, the frenzy of media publicity has gone to reinforce, once again, the mad scientist view again when this is a serious matter of discussion.
Catherine Steward, UK

I would avoid GM food if possible, the problem is it is difficult to avoid as there is no labelling requirement. Also depends what the definition of GM food is? Fiddling with the food chain is bad news. Look what happened when they started feeding cattle minced up cow brain & spine - BSE! (note, cows are vegetarian)
Paul Burne, England

I would not knowingly touch GM food with a gloved barge pole; the money spent on GM research would be better spent developing the organic food market.
Gillie Guy, UK

The only people to benefit from GMs are the huge multi-national companies. They are trying to profit from patenting life - it's not theirs to sell and not ours to buy!
Catherin Johnson, Scotland

How many of the people in this poll actually know what a gene is, and what genetically modified food is?
J. Grimwald, UK

The way I see it, the big GM food companies are testing different products in different countries one at a time in order to fool people into thinking that if it is used elsewhere, it is good in their own country. Information has to be spread and consumers must keep their buying decision in our consumption society if we want things to go right.
Paul Crevier, Canada

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