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The UK public resoundingly rejected the case for growing and eating genetically modified food on Wednesday.

The emphatic snub comes in a report announcing results of the UK government鈥檚 鈥淕M Nation鈥� public debate on the future for GM foods.

It sums up feedback from 1200 letters and more than 600 public meetings attended by at least 8000 British people since June 2003.

The news comes at a time when British and other European governments are coming under increasing international pressure 鈥� particularly from the US 鈥� to lift a five-year moratorium on the growing and approval of GM crops.

The document, along with major scientific and economic evaluations of GM crops published earlier in summer 2003 and forthcoming results of field trials, will help inform the UK government鈥檚 decision on whether to end moratorium on the commercial growing of GM crops later in 2003

Hijacked meetings

Key messages from the report included:

聲 British people are generally uneasy about GM

聲 Finding out more simply deepened people鈥檚 concerns

聲 Few people support early commercialization, with more than half attending the debates saying they never wanted GM crops grown in the UK

聲 Widespread mistrust of government and multinational companies

聲 People want to know more, and crave a 鈥渃orpus of agreed 鈥榝acts鈥� accepted by all organisations and interests鈥�

聲 Developing countries have special interests, but fairer trade rules would do more to eliminate hunger than GM crops

The only solace in the report for supporters of GM crops was some evidence that opponents 鈥渉ijacked鈥� public meetings and sent most of the letters 鈥� so skewing the outcome. Observers at meetings counted five opponents for every supporter or neutral person who attended.

The report acknowledges this phenomenon. Websites run by groups opposed to GM crops, such as the National Federation of Women鈥檚 Institutes, had urged members to attend meetings in force, for example. And the report identifies middle-aged mothers as displaying the most 鈥渋mplacable鈥� opposition.

Hardened views

But views were trenchant even among 77 鈥渋mpartial鈥� participants chosen for a special 鈥渟urvey-within-a-survey鈥�. This survey aimed to tease out differences between committed, self-selecting individuals who attend meetings and the 鈥渟ilent majority鈥�, says the report.

Many 鈥渋mpartials鈥� who started out undecided hardened their views against GM foods after they had had two weeks to 鈥渋mmerse themselves鈥� in the subject 鈥� although their sources were not always impartial.

鈥淢ost people relied on secondary reports of research, often from interested parties, without checking back to see if the research had been reported accurately,鈥� says the report.