A number of environment groups active in the UK have joined in condemnation of government support for genetically modified crops.

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The groups, who have written a joint letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, express fears that the UK government line in EU Council debates on new GM crop licensing methods risks opening the back door for cultivation of the crops in the UK. They say this would go against public opinion.

In their joint letter, members of Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and organic certification body the Soil Association condemn the position adopted in negotiations last week by Environment Secretary Owen Paterson.  Paterson is a zealous advocate of GM crops; the Defra head has previously called opponents of GM crops "wicked" and told pro-GM lobbying group Europabio "I'll back you all the way," during an address in January.

During its meeting on 3rd March, the EU Environment Council, made up of member states' environment ministers, discussed compromise measures resurrected by current EU president Greece. Under the compromise package, once a genetically modified crop variety has been passed as safe by EU authorities, member states could decide whether or not to grow the crop on an individual basis. However, this would still require states to opt-out of cultivation.

Critics of the scheme, including members of the European parliament, have said the compromise, as discussed last week, does nothing to address identified flaws in the risk assessments used by the EU's watchdog EFSA. Greenpeace has warned that, as in its ill-fated predecessor from 2010, legal grounds for opt-outs remain weak in the current compromise package.

In a statement on Monday (10th March), the environment groups said Defra secretary Paterson's support for the proposal, aimed at fast-tracking commercial cultivation of GM crops in states with pro-GM governments, and avoiding the lengthy stalemates that currently characterise the EU regulatory process, means GM crops could be grown in the UK as early as 2015.  

If the compromise package is voted in, the first GM crops in the pipeline for approval that are likely to be grown in England are Monsanto's RoundUp Ready GM maize NK603 and Syngenta’s GA21, which are genetically engineered to withstand spraying with glyphosate (brand name RoundUp). Monsanto has not withdrawn its application to plant NK603 in the EU, despite announcing in July 2013 that it would do so.

The green groups said previous plans to grow herbicide-tolerant GM crops commercially in the UK were abandoned in 2004, following Farm Scale Evaluations (FSEs), which showed that blanket spraying with weedkillers destroys important habitats for birds, butterflies and other wildlife.

Exponents of GM crops point out that they have been grown over a large area for almost 20 years, and claim they will be necessary to improve yields and help farmers deal with the challenges of climate change.

Sceptics, on the other hand, maintain that the crops are the product of a flawed agricultural paradigm which could make food production more fragile in the long-run. They point out that a small number of countries account for the vast majority of GM crops grown worldwide (just three; the USA, Brazil and Argentina, grew 77 percent of the world's GM crops in 2012, the last year for which records are available).

The crops' rise to popularity amongst farmers in the United States has been associated with increasing pesticide use and the rise of resistance amongst pests and weeds.

 Commenting on the letter sent to the PM on Monday, Soil Association Policy Director Peter melchett said, "If GM crops spread, GM contamination will make organic farming impossible, and our growing organic market will have to be supplied with imported food. The Soil Association hopes that David Cameron does not want to be remembered as the Prime Minister responsible for the beginning of the end of organic farming in England."

Recent research by Barclays revealed that, although a slight majority of the UK's farmers supported growing GM crops, only a fifth of consumers  said they would back the crops.

Dr Doug Parr, Chief Scientist at Greenpeace UK, also commented, "Ten years ago the UK Government reviewed the scientific, environmental and economic impacts of GM crops and food, and concluded they offered little benefit to the UK. Despite much huffing and puffing from its advocates, little has changed and the propositions on offer from the biotech industry are largely the same as they were. But the UK Government is so in thrall to industry hype that they want to deconstruct the EU single market – previously the only thing about Europe they wanted to keep – in order to grow GM crops that nobody wants."