SRT Home Page What is the SRT Project? Site Map & Subject Index What's New? Highlights Current Talking Point The Big Issues The Big Issues "Engineering Genesis" Genetic Engineering GM Food GM Animals Human Genetics Cloning Xenotransplantation Patenting Risk Environment Climate Change Energy Nuclear Power Transport Eco-Congregation Church Energy Saving Technology Internet Issues Science & Faith SRT Publications SRT Newsletter SRT Information Sheets SRT Topical Papers Press Room Contact SRT Send a comment Guest Book SRT Trust & Associates Links European Christian     Environmental Network Eco-Congregation

Society, Religion and Technology Project Church of Scotland Looking at the ethics of technology for a New Millennium

The Government announcement yesterday of new labelling regulations about modified food have largely missed the point, says Society, Religion and Technology Project director, Dr Donald Bruce.

The new regulations extend labelling to restaurants and other retail outlets, but do not address the an underlying issue of injustice. Since the EU directive of 1998, labelling has only been mandatory only if genes or GM products can be detected in the food itself. For a large number of people who are concerned about GM foods, this is not the issue at stake.

If your concern is not about eating strange DNA but that genetic modification was used at all - for ethical, religious, ecological or safety grounds - then you have no effective way of choosing between food that has been modified and food that has not. Such a basic ethical issue cannot be reduced to questions of scientific tests and limits of detection. The new regulations change nothing in this respect, and remain fundamentally unjust.

A recent Church of Scotland report, while not objecting in principle to genetically modified food, called for an urgent change to the EU labelling regulations, for the sake of those who do object. It said it should be made mandatory to label all foods where a step of genetic modification has been used in their ingredients or preparation.

In December 1998, the House of Lords Select Committee declared that this is "impracticable", but gave no supporting reasons. Its opinion is challenged by comparing with other industries where the ability to trace the origins of materials is seen as important. For example, research workers in the nuclear industry have to be able to account for the origin and fate of every last fraction of a gram of plutonium they handle. Rigorous traceablility will also be required for cattle exports in the wake of the BSE crisis.

If it matters enough, it seems, traceability and labelling is possible for the process that has been used, not merely the content. The implication is that the Government does not think it matters enough. Given current public feelings over this issue, continuing to ignore this situation of injustice seems a risky course of action.

For More Information

Dr Donald Bruce is Director of the Society Religion and Technology Project of the Church of Scotland, responsible for assessing ethical issues in technology for Scotland's national church. He and his wife Ann are co-editors of a new book "Engineering Genesis"; on the ethics of genetic engineering in non-human species, published by Earthscan, based on a 5 year expert working group study.

Return to the top of the Page
Return to SRT Genetically Modifed Food Main Page
SRT Website Map
Return to SRT Home Page