Irrational and emotional protests against biotechnology and animal experiments are jeopardising Europe’s future prosperity, says British prime minister, Tony Blair.
Blair attacked the activities of the protestors in a major speech at London’s Royal Society, aimed at boosting the morale of Britain’s mainstream scientists and at attracting others from abroad.
“There is only a small band of people, I believe, who genuinely want to stifle informed debate,” he said. “But a small group can, as has happened in our country, destroy experimental crops before we can determine their environmental impact.”
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“I don’t know what that research would have concluded, and neither do the protestors,” said Blair. “But I want to reach my judgments after I have the facts, not before.”
Similarly, he attacked animal rights campaigners for protesting against legitimate experiments on animals, and for opposing a proposed new centre for neurological research in Cambridge to seek cures for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. “We cannot have vital work stifled simply because it’s controversial,” said Blair.
“Public interest over profits”
However, the targets of Blair’s speech accused him of backing science that boosts industry, but ignoring science that stands in its way.
“The vast majority of the British public, environmentalists, organic farmers and businesses, are pro-science,” says Peter Melchett, policy director of the Soil Association. “But this doesn’t mean we have to agree that Monsanto, Tony Blair and pro-GM scientists should run our lives and decide what we eat”.
Sue Mayer of the lobby group GeneWatch agrees: “The government must fund science in the public interest, not just to support the biotechnology industry’s profits.”
Soft on science
Blair said that the impetus for his speech came during a visit to India. His hosts in Bangalore shocked him by claiming that Europe appeared to be allowing the protestors to run the show.
“They said to me bluntly: ‘Europe has gone soft on science; we are going to leapfrog you and you are going to miss out’,” said Blair. “They regarded the debate on GM [foods] here and elsewhere in Europe as utterly astonishing.”
“They saw us as completely overrun by protestors and pressure groups who used emotion to drive out reason,” said the prime minister. “And they didn’t think we had the political will to stand up for proper science.”
To counter the impact of the protestors, Blair wants Britain to “embed a more mature attitude towards science in our society”. He says we should choose the path of being a nation “at ease” with radical knowledge, not “timid” or “fearful of the future”.
“My plea is simple: let the debate be one between open minds, not a retreat into a culture of unreason,” said the PM. “I want to prove those entrepreneurs in Bangalore wrong.”
