The call to relax the rules on GM crops from Sir Mark Walport, government chief scientist, comes as no surprise. A strong belief in GM seems to have become a basic qualification for the chief scientist job in recent years.

The problem for successive pro-GM UK governments, starting with Tony Blair’s evangelical support for GM, is that consumers and the market, not politicians or their advisors, have decided what actually happens. So despite Blair’s strong support for GM, in 1999 supermarkets took GM ingredients out of 70% of UK food in response to their customers’ wishes, and have kept it out of all UK food ever since.

A recent survey shows more than 80% of customers are either unsure or negative in their attitude to the use of GM technology in food – and that will determine the future of GM food – not the chief scientist’s opinion. Indeed, many scientists would argue that recent research results tend to suggest that the public are right to be sceptical, both in terms of risks to human health, and increasing problems for farmers growing GM crops.

The use of GM in animal feed has, however, continued in the UK, with the exception of […]