U.K.’s Paterson Says EU Should Accept Genetically Modified Crops

The European Union should ease controls on genetically modified crops in order to meet future food demand, and the U.K. should take a leading role in expanding research, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said.

EU rules banning farmers from cultivating most genetically modified crops mean the bloc “is missing out” on technology that would boost yields and cut use of chemicals and fertilizer, Paterson said today at Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, England, according to a copy of the speech posted online by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The EU has given approval for farmers to grow one GM crop in the bloc in the last 14 years, while more than 40 products can be imported for food and feed use, primarily for livestock, he said.