GM

Farming Today

• Episode: GM
• Website: Farming Today
• Feed URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj8q/episodes/downloads.rss
• Duration: 00:25:03
• Published: 2017-12-02 08:00

Genetic modification has become one of the most controversial sciences of modern times. Charlotte Smith hosts a panel discussion looking at where the technology is today and what its future is, here in the UK. Her guests include Professor Nigel Halford - a Senior Scientist at the agricultural research centre Rothamsted Research, who's worked with genetically modified plants for nearly 30 years and been a prominent participant in the GM debate since the 1990s; Honor Eldridge - a Policy Officer with the Soil Association, the largest organic certification body in the UK and one of the most active groups in opposing the introduction of GM here; and Mark Lynas - a writer and environmentalist who's been on both sides of the argument: in the '90s he was an early member of the anti-GMO movement in the UK, but some years later changed his mind, after concluding an anti-GM stance was inconsistent with his pro-science approach to climate change. He's the author of several books including 'How I Got Converted to G.M.O. Food'. The panel discusses what technologies actually come under the umbrella term of GM nowadays, current research in the field, the legislation governing GMOs in the EU and UK, whether those laws might change post-Brexit, the role GM might play in future food security, opposition to the technology and consumer concerns. The panel also hears from Maria Lee, a Professor of Law at University College London, specialising in the environment and regulation of emerging technologies; and Moira Hickey looks back at one of the most contentious GM trial sites in the UK, on the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands. Presented by Charlotte Smith - produced by Lucy Taylor.