Mary Henry (Independent)

I thank the Minister of State for attending the House this evening. I am trying to consider the issue regarding genetically modified food, crops and so forth from an economic point of view. While I am sure the Department also considers it, I wonder whether it does so sufficiently seriously. There is an increasing demand for food that is either organic or what members of the public would consider to be healthy, traditional and so forth. I do not consider GM foods are likely to make me ill or to cause other people illness. Unfortunately, we have had some issues in the past that have caused great lack of confidence among the public in respect of food. I refer in particular to the development of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, in cattle due to bonemeal being fed to the animals and the subsequent development of new variant Creuzfeld-Jakob disease in humans who ate that meat.

People have become highly suspicious of the assertions given to them that food is safe. This is unfortunate because although the majority of food produced in Ireland is safe, it takes a long time to reassure people after something like that happens. I had never heard of prions before the BSE scare or the development of the disease. Interesting however, in the early 1970s, a vet in Trinity College suggested that these were possible vectors of disease. He appreciated that even though they lacked nuclei. However, I do not believe much attention was paid to his findings.

While I do not believe I will contract a terrible disease by eating genetically modified foods, there are those who are really put off by the idea of eating such foods. As one person put it, while it is all well and good to assert that it is all right, one does not want to eat dog, as they do in China. I do not believe it does them any harm. Moreover, in west Africa, people eat agouti, a large rodent and people there have tried to feed it to me, claiming it tastes like a cross between chicken and rabbit. I have declined, stating that I would manage myself. While I am sure it would not do any harm, I do not necessarily wish to eat it. Consequently, we must ensure people have the choice of what they wish to eat.

The most recent complaint I received in this regard followed questions regarding animal feed put to the Minister for Agriculture and Food by Members of the Green Party on 1 December. The lady who complained to me stated that apparently 75% of the corn imported to Ireland for animal feed is genetically modified. She stated that she wanted choice as to the kind of feed consumed by the animals she was eating and she has a point in this respect.

The former Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Walsh, used to agree with me that the fatty acids produced in grass-fed cattle are far more healthy for humans than the fatty acids produced in corn-fed animals. I repeatedly told him — he agreed with me — that we should make selling points of such issues in Ireland and that it was economically important. My complainant told me she wanted to have choice in respect of the food consumed by the animals. However, being familiar with the findings regarding fatty acids, I could not tell her she was necessarily wrong, regardless of whether the corn was genetically modified. While this subject may be rather esoteric, people are becoming increasingly careful about what they eat.

I believe we should promote Irish food as health food and I am sure the Minister of State and all at the Department of Agriculture and Food would agree. However, I wonder whether the Department has considered the economics of this issue sufficiently carefully. I do not refer to the health aspects, which have been covered adequately, but to the economics of it. Cheap food policies have driven the production of food since the close of the Second World War. The proportion of people's income devoted to putting food on the table is now much less than was the case 20, 30 or 40 years ago. While this is good, it does not mean necessarily that our nutrition is better. As Members are aware, Ireland has experienced an explosion in obesity and type-2 diabetes.

The outbreak of avian flu in the turkey farm in England, in which people have seen the battery farms that house poultry numbering in the hundreds of thousands and that are confined to a small area is also significant in making people think about what is going on in this regard. One issue that concerns me greatly is that in such battery farms, the feed contains what are described as growth promoters, which are in fact antibiotics. While they are not antibiotics eaten by the Minister of State, the Acting Chairman or me, they remain antibiotics. As evident from the soaring sales of organic or traditionally reared chicken, many people consider the feeding of such growth promoters to poultry to be a serious problem. Some people do not wish to eat them and people should be given choice. Why can we not capitalise on this market?

Apart from the fact that apparently nut allergies can pass through genetically modified corn, I am not particularly worried by its health implications. However, I am seriously concerned about the fact that cross-pollination with organic and traditional crops in Ireland may be easier than we had realised.

I am aware the EU legislation does not allow us to ban such items. However, Austria, Germany, France and some other member states have cordoned off areas in respect of what can be grown there. I wonder whether the economics of the increased demand for traditional or organic foods have been investigated thoroughly. Ireland is a small island nation with a great agricultural tradition and I wonder whether this niche market has been properly investigated.