A leading figure from the organic sector has warned that parts of the British media are engaged in a conspiracy of silence over GM health risks.
In an article for NYR Natural News Lawrence Woodward OBE compares the extensive media coverage in France and other EU countries of the recent study showing that rats fed GM maize developed tumours with the “monumental indifference” from the UK press.
Woodward writes: “Only the Daily Mail, the Grocer and Food Navigator (an online news service) did it justice; Reuters, the Financial Times, the Telegraph (an article and an unintelligent blog rant) did cover the story but failed to grasp its significance and fell for the spoiling tactics of an industry lobby group.
And as for the BBC, our national beacon of light, truth and integrity; a single fleeting mention on its website with only enough energy to feature the smokescreen put out by pro-GM lobbyists.
Woodward argues that too many British journalists are happy to be spoon fed information from “rent-a-quote scientists” wheeled out by groups such as the GM industry-backed Science Media Centre (SMC).
The former Organic Research Centre director continued: “Some journalists are wary of the SMC and they also tread carefully around anti-GM campaigning groups, but too many of them have abandoned even the pretence of serious enquiry. They swallow SMC briefings, press releases from government, industry and research establishment, they don’t ask questions and they fail to see the wider context of GM technology.”
• Read Lawrence Woodward’s article in full here
