Research to date on GM foods had uncovered no significant negative health effects on humans, but less than 1 per cent of that research had dealt with health aspects, the chief scientific adviser to the Government said yesterday.
Prof Patrick Cunningham told the annual conference of the Agricultural Science Association in Trim, Co Meath, that Ireland should take the lead in Europe in commissioning additional research into the health aspects of genetically-modified food.
"Repeated surveys show that over 70 per cent of European citizens are against GM food. This reality cannot be ignored. At the same time, the scientific evidence overwhelmingly shows that food derived from GM crops, or from animals fed on GM feeds, is safe."
He said that the issue continued to be one of the most contentious in European society. While GM offered obvious technical and economic benefits, there was widespread apprehension about the technology due to concerns over the perceived risk to human health and the environmental impact.
In addition, there was concern over the potential to increase the power of multinational corporations, deterioration in food quality, the threat to traditional farming and rural society and general moral acceptability.
Prof Cunningham said that three key sources of scientific research - the Royal Society in Britain, the Académie des Sciences in France and the National Research Council in the US - had all concluded that GM foods were safe. However, a Eurobarometer survey in 2003 had shown that 56 per cent of Europeans believed GM foods to be dangerous, with 70 per cent saying they "did not want this type of food" and 95 per cent calling for labelling and the "right to choose".
"While scientific research has not uncovered any health impact, very little of the literature actually deals with health effects. Most of the published research on GM - over 30,000 papers - concerns development of the technology, with less than 1 per cent dealing with health aspects," Prof Cunningham said.
He pointed out that no research on the health and safety aspects of GM foods had been conducted in Ireland and he suggested that the State could take a lead in Europe by commissioning research to address this through the Food Institutional Research Measure, the primary national funding mechanism for food research in third-level colleges, and through Teagasc.