UK to push EU to relax GM rules

The UK's environment secretary Owen Paterson will use a speech next week to call on the European Union to allow the farming of GM crops, The Independent reports.

The story claims “growing scientific evidence” that GM food is safe and notes survey results showing an increase in support for GM among farmers.

At the same time, an editorial in The Independent argues that it is time to rethink GM crops. “The dire prophecies of Frankenstein foods have not come to pass,” says the author. “Thanks to the combined pressures of climate change, financial hardship and concern at being left behind by GM-friendly rivals across North and South America, the majority of Britain’s farmers are now avowedly ‘pro’.”