An Urban's Rural View

From this side of the pond, Europe's hostility to genetically-engineered anything looks implacable. That doesn't stop biotech backers from trying, though. A new report from the industry group EuropaBio, whose members include Monsanto, Dupont and Syngenta, dresses up the case for biotech agriculture in clothing designed to fit European sensibilities (http://tiny.cc/…).

The report, titled "Science Not Fiction: Time To Think Again About GM," appeals to Europeans' social and environmental conscience, stressing biotech's role in promoting food security in poor countries and reducing carbon emissions. It equates critics of biotech crops to climate-change deniers, saying both rely on reports that aren't peer-reviewed.

The report maintains that critics have misled European consumers with scary reports that twisted facts. "In 2008, Greenpeace seized on an Austrian study of mice fed on GM maize,???claiming that it showed 'serious health threats of genetically engineered crops'" the report says. "But the research had not been peer reviewed and its author, Prof. J. Zentek,???himself recognized the inconclusive results and refuted Greenpeace's conclusions. Greenpeace quietly changed its conclusions, but made no attempt to publicly correct the error."

And the report notes that while "anti-GM groups complain that they would like more scientific evidence of GMO safety," many have participated in the "80 attacks on???academic or governmental crop research???institutes in Europe in recent years, all of which ???have targeted on experiments which operate??? within the strict safety guidelines laid down by regulatory authorities."

It's tempting for an American reader to dismiss the report as an exercise in futility. Haven't Europeans already made up their minds? Can human ingenuity conceive of an argument capable of persuading them to embrace biotech?

The report argues European minds aren't as closed as you might think: "A number of studies have concluded that most Europeans do not actively avoid GM food, and that the way Europeans respond to prompting via a questionnaire does not bear much relation to how they shop in a grocery store."

And some of the questionnaires have been worded in questionable ways. "For example," the report says, "a Swiss referendum led by GMO opponents in 1998 asked citizens whether they wanted to 'protect life and the environment against genetic manipulation'."

We've been hearing for years of signs that European attitudes are changing. There haven't been any breakthroughs yet, though. And while this report may help, the best attitude for Americans remains "Don't hold your breath waiting."

Urban Lehner

urbanity@hotmail.com

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