Barry O’Neil, president of the World Organisation for Animal Health said recently that livestock farmers need access to genetically modified crops if they are to keep up with the demands for meat.

He spoke at a meeting in London last week and acknowledged that the increased demand for food from a world population expected to rise by 50% by 2020 was of serious concern to farmers.  Already a third of crops are grown for animal feed, so there needs to be a new solution.

“I think we are entering a new phase, dominated by environmental issues, climate change and rising demand. By 2050 we will need twice as much food, produced from less land and with less water and more pressures around environmental sustainability. These are real challenges we need to get our heads around, and I think we need GM crops to help us” he said.

Jim McLaren, president of National Farmers Union Scotland, is also pressing for more GM foods. He believes that one of the most significant ways of stabilising and reducing feed costs is the relaxation of EU strict rules on the import of GM crops - mainly soya and maize, from the US.

Whilst many consumers oppose GM crops, few realise they are already eating animals fed on GM feeds anyway, since almost all soy grown in Argentina and the US has been modified, and the same is rapidly becoming so in Brazil. The soy is imported to feed chickens, cattle, and pigs prior to slaughter. Currently there is no mandatory requirement for shops to label meat produced from GM-fed animals.

Around 60% of the maize and 30% of the soya used in animal feed by dairy and pig farmers is GM. This means that most of the non-organic milk, dairy products and pork being sold in the UK is from GM-fed animals. (33)

Giant biotech multinationals and livestock farmers are using the rise in demand for food as an excuse to push GM. Let’s all make more efficient use of the world’s food by eating it ourselves instead of to animals: go vegan.