DA Card mistakenly believes GM crops are being grown to help underdeveloped countries feed themselves not the European market.

If this were true why has the Bush government been so aggressive about foisting their unwanted GM crops on Europe and been so stingy about helping developing countries?

The Centre for Global Development put America second from bottom in its ranking of how effectively developed nations' policies help the poor.

The poorest farmers in the world still couldn't afford to buy the patented GM seed and linked chemicals even if they wanted to and they would be denied the right to use saved seed for next year's crops.

There are no GM crops grown commercially that improve nutritional quality or yield or that can be grown in drought conditions. We have GM crops that tolerate a particular herbicide or produce an insecticide most are grown for animal feed or for cotton.

The novel chemicals cannot be washed off the crop and can remain active in the food. In the handful of animal feed trials that have tested the toxicity of GM foods, it is not surprising that abnormalities in gut tissues have been found.

The only winners are the biotech companies not the starving.

Jean Saunders

Longcot