A well known British molecular scientist, dr. Michael Antoniou, who visited Iceland last week to explore the status of GMOs in Iceland, has warned of the risks involved in the outdoor growing of GM pharmaceutical plants and has called on Icelanders to demonstrate  increased awareness, conduct proper national debate and introduce stricter precautionary measures prior to any further development in this area.

Dr. Antoniou, who holds an academic position at King´s College London, was invited to Iceland by the Information Campaign on GMOs (erfdabreytt.net). He is widely known for his scientific expertise in genetics, as well as for his participation in public debate and government committees in this area, especially in the UK. The purpose of his visit was to explore the issue of GMOs in the Icelandic settings and the plans for extensive outdoor growing of GM pharma- and industrial plants.

Dr. Antoniou, together with the Campaign group, met with several institutions and stakeholders. The preliminary findings of those meetings were disclosed at a press conference held on the 6th of July in the Nordic House in Reykjavík. The Campaign group confirmed that the meetings have in fact intensified their concerns about plans for the release and growing of GM pharma and industrial plants. Dr. Antoniou warned about the risks associated with such crops and urged for much stricter containment conditions to be introduced.

When asked about the health impact of GM crops, dr. Antoniou confirmed that research is still extremely limited. However, he refered to a study by the Newcastle University for the British Food Standards Agency, which showed that GM genes can move "horizontally" out of GM food into human gut bacteria. He also mentioned some well designed animal feeding tests which indicate a range of detrimental effects of GM feed on general health and structure of individual organs.