A wider debate on the cultivation of GM crops in Europe is to be sought by the European Commission.

It is to fund new research work in response to a study in which it found opinions on GM crops were often far from balanced and based instead on already preconceived ideas. It added: “The commission believes that discussions on this sensitive topic should be deepened, to move from polarised perceptions to more tangible and objective results.”

The study said the views received from member states made it difficult, and often impossible, to pinpoint clear positions or trends at a national or European level on the thorny issue.

Eight of Europe’s 27 nations have grown pest-resistant maize or high starch content potatoes commercially – the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.

Health and consumer policy commissioner John Dallie said the report created an opportunity for a wider discussion on the merits or otherwise of commercial GM cultivation and its impact on farmers and society at large.

But Friends of the Earth food campaigner Mute Schimpf said the commission’s analysis ignored the environmental and economic costs of GM crops and the potential for contamination.

NFU Scotland said the report, which had taken nearly 30 months to produce, encapsulated the frustration and dithering which surrounded GM. An NFU spokesman added: “Our lack of a science-led evidence base around the cultivation of GM in Europe leaves us years – if not decades – off the pace compared to other parts of the world and that is something Europe must act quickly to address."