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Four out of 10 Europeans feel ignorant about genetically modified (GMO)
crops and foods and a quarter of them are worried that gene-altered products
used in farming will affect the environment, a poll showed in April 2005 by
Jeremy Smith.

In some countries, particularly in Scandinavia, the feeling of not having
enough information about GMOs was far higher than average, hitting 66
percent in Finland and 49 percent in Sweden.

"On specific environmental issues, European citizens clearly state they lack
information on relatively new environmental issues such as...the use of
genetically modified organims in farming," said the poll, conducted by a
market research organisation at the behest of the European Commission.

The Eurobarometer survey was conducted in late 2004 and polled nearly 25,000
interviewees in all 25 EU member states.

Only a handful of GMOs may be cultivated in the European Union at present,
mostly maize types. These are usually modified to resist insects and other
field pests, as well as herbicides.

Recently, there has also been a trickle of import approvals for new GMO food
types, some for human consumption and some for use in processing and animal
feed, after the EU lifted its six-year blockade on approving new GMO
products last year.

Slightly under a quarter of Europeans said they were worried about GMOs used
in farming as an environmental issue. This compared with 47 percent of
respondents who voiced concern over water pollution and 45 percent over
climate change.

The highest concern levels over GMO crops and foods came from Greece and
Austria, both at 43 percent. Cyprus came third with 39 percent. Conversely,
Malta was the least concerned at just 12 percent, followed by Finland with
14 percent.

Green groups welcomed the poll's findings, saying the Commission should
recognise consumer scepticism over GMOs when it processed applications for
new GMOs to be used in EU markets.

"These results clearly show that the Commission's stubbornness to force GM
crops on the market and in the fields is massively condemned by the EU
population," said Eric Gall, GMO campaigner at Greenpeace International's
European unit.

[www.alertnet.org]

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