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Refusal: Owen Paterson has refused a Freedom of Information Act request to supply details about talks with the GM industry trade body
Ministers are trying to cover up secret briefings with GM companies hoping to push ‘Frankenfood’ on to dinner tables.
Owen Paterson has refused a Freedom of Information Act request to supply details about talks with the GM industry trade body.
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary has led the charge to encourage a sceptical public to accept genetically modified crops being grown on UK farms and sold in supermarkets.
He has also been lobbying the EU to let Britain grow crops such as GM maize even if they are banned in other countries.
It has emerged that these efforts are being carried out in partnership with the Agricultural Biotechnology Council, which is financed by GM companies such as Monsanto, Syngenta and Bayer CropScience.
The revelations come weeks after it was revealed that a group of scientists behind an official government study backing GM all had links to the industry.
Now there is evidence of meetings and briefings involving ministers and the ABC and its industry backers. There have been no such meetings with groups worried about the impact of GM on human health and the countryside.