An open letter signed by 30 scientists and other specialists has today been sent to the Scottish Minister Richard Lochhead in support of the announced Scottish ban on the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops.

The signatories all hold doctorates, mainly in science or medicine.  Another open letter , opposing the ban, had been sent on 17 August to the same Minister, signed on behalf of 28 universities institutes, learned societies and other institutions, but no individual signatures were given.

This new letter cites evidence that professionals who have financial or career interests in a product are more likely to endorse it than are those without such interests.  This bias is heightened in the case of GM, where it is spurred by the billions of corporate and funding dollars at stake. There have been concerted attacks from scientists and others dependent on the industry upon scientists who have demonstrated harm from GM crops.

The signatories of today’s letter point to increasing use of pesticides, with no intrinsic increase in crop yield (there is no single gene for higher yield ).  Thus GM crops are a liability to both farmers and consumers, while proponents of GM continue to make extravagant claims for these crops.  The letter also dismisses the claim that GM foods are safe to eat, a claim based on commercially confidential studies performed by the GM-seed developers.  On the contrary, peer-reviewed, published toxicology/ safety studies by independent researchers show that lab animals suffer damage to health when fed even small quantities of GMOs.

Newcastle University Prof. Carlo Leifert stated: ”I strongly believe that the Scottish government is right in banning genetically modified crops.  The process of safety testing is still a completely flawed process and there are potentially significant public health risks and negative biodiversity and environmental impacts, while there is likely to be no commercial benefit for farmers from the currently available GM crops.  On the other hand, there are likely to be significant commercial benefits from Scotland being clearly recognized as a GM-free region for producers of major Scottish export crops/crop products (e.g., potato, cereals, oil seed rape, soft fruit, whisky).”

“Banning GMOs is a very brave step to take given the political power of the GM-crop proponents. I hope other governments in Europe will be encouraged by this and stand up to the interference of multinational biotech companies and their lobbyists in national decision-making processes, and will also stand up to lobbying by parts of the academic community which push GM-crop commercialization mainly as a justification for their own fundamental research funding.”

The letter urges Scotland to become a leader in the science of agroecology, which has been proven to be an efficient and sustainable way of farming that produces healthy soils, plants, animals and food.