Sir, - Ireland as a food producer has much to gain by declaring itself a GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) free zone. There is a large consumer population in Europe and elsewhere who are rightly concerned about the health consequences of such food products. There are many unforeseeable consequences in this new agriculture which could cross pollinate and give us varieties of superweeds or superpests, or may inadvertently wipe out beneficial insects or superpests, or may inadvertently wipe out beneficial insects and cause problems in the food chain.
As an island we are ideally situated to guard ourselves and our foodchain from the unintended side-effects of this experimentation. We have little to lose as the enhancement of our safe food image would give products with an Irish label a decided advantage in the marketplace. - Yours, etc., Conor Fitzgerald,
Glenleam,
Caherweesheen,
Tralee.