It seems we might be seeing the first signs of acceptance of genetic modification as a viable crop production technology.

Aside from the HRIA conference last week - see story on right - one leading national ran what was the most objective article I have read for some time on the potential for GM foods.

Of course, the newspaper in question, The Daily Telegraph, may have been attempting to shock its readership by allowing pro-GM and anti-organic views on life into its weekend pages. The ubiquitous Frankenstein foods was foremost in the headline, to back that theory up.

But it is only by reading the perspective of people directly involved with the development of genetic modification techniques - in this case Michael Pragnell of Syngenta - that the UK consumer can form a realistic and balanced view on the future of the food industry.

I hope to see more articles of this type in the press. GM is just one issue where the record needs to be straightened out. And the sooner the consumers hear the absolute truth about pesticides, organics, nutritional values and price wars, the sooner they can make reliably informed purchasing decisions.

They may of course decide that they have been right all along. That’s fine. But while they falsely believe their food is killing them slowly with pesticides or they are saving the world by buying a bag of organic, Fairtrade bananas, they are being duped.