The Times - UK (2022-05-25)

14 Wednesday May 25 2022 | the times

News

Almost half of Britain’s butterfly species
are at risk of extinction, according to an
assessment which found that threats
have increased because of habitat loss
and climate change.
The number of species classed as
threatened in the updated “red list” for
butterflies has risen by 26 per cent
compared with an assessment in 2010.
The swallowtail and Adonis blue are

Shoppers will be unable to identify
gene-edited food under government
plans to accelerate development of
crops and livestock with altered DNA
and remove the requirement for it to be
labelled as such.
Ministers will introduce legislation
today that they say will make the UK
the best place in the world to invest in
food innovation by removing EU-
imposed obstacles on gene-edited food.
Bright Blue, a Conservative think
tank, urged caution, saying shoppers
might feel tricked into buying un-
labelled gene-edited produce.
The Genetic Technology (Precision
Breeding) Bill will allow gene-edited
crops to be approved in one year in-
stead of up to ten. The Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra) said the system would boost
food security by allowing farmers “to

Gene-edited food to be sold unlabelled

grow more resistant, more nutritious

and more productive crops”.

The environmental impact of farm-

ing could be lessened by the develop-

ment of crops and animals more resist-

ant to diseases, which would reduce the

need for pesticides and antibiotics.

Crops can also be gene-edited to

cope better with droughts and heat-

waves, and Defra said gene-editing

could even create safer food by remov-

ing allergens and preventing the forma-

tion of harmful compounds.

Unlike genetic modification (GM),

gene-editing does not involve intro-

ducing DNA from different species and

is therefore considered by many scien-

tists to pose fewer risks.

The bill would exempt gene-edited

crops and animals from GM regula-

tions, introducing a much faster and

simpler regulatory system for

“precision-bred organisms” with

genetic changes that could have been

achieved through selective breeding. It

would allow gene-edited food to be de-

veloped in England only. The Scottish

and Welsh governments have said they

will remain aligned with the EU rules,

but Defra said gene-edited food could

be sold in those countries.

The government is planning to allow

gene-edited products to be sold without

labels despite a survey last year by the

Food Standards Agency that found

most consumers wanted them to be

marked “genome edited”.

Liz O’Neill, of the anti-GM campaign

group GM Freeze, said people wanted to

know what they were buying and eating

and there should be clear labels. She

said gene-editing was “GM with better

PR — there is much that can go wrong”.

Joshua Marks, of Bright Blue, said:

“Consumer transparency is important

... Gaining public support for gene edit-
ing will not happen if they feel tricked
or the decision is being forced on them.”

Ben Webster Environment Editor

UN chief tells

students: shun

oil or gas jobs

Ben Webster

Graduates should avoid working for

“climate-wrecking” companies that

invest in new supplies of oil and gas,

said the UN secretary-general yester-

day. António Guterres warned in a

speech to graduating students that

“accountability is coming for those who

liquidate our future”.

He suggested they should avoid

taking jobs in companies that financed

development of fossil fuels, saying that

such investments were “a dead end

economically and environmentally”.

Guterres told the students from Set-

on Hall University in New Jersey: “My

message to you is simple: don’t work for

climate-wreckers. Use your talents to

drive us towards a renewable future.”

A contractor to Shell resigned this

week via an email to the company,

accusing it of doing “extreme harm” to

the climate and people by continuing

to develop new oil and gas projects.

Caroline Dennett, 50, who spent 11

years advising Shell on safety matters,

said she could no longer work with the

company because it “ignores all the

alarms and dismisses the risk of climate

change and ecological collapse”.

“The fossil fuel industry, it’s the past,”

she said, “and if you can find a way out,

then please walk away. While there’s

still time.”

Focus on sustainability is right, says

Unilever chief, Business, page 36

Half of Britain’s butterflies in danger of dying out

among seven species moved from near

threatened to threatened under the

system of classifying extinction risk

established by the International Union

for Conservation of Nature.

The large heath and the grayling

have moved from vulnerable to

endangered. The Scotch argus and dark

green fritillary have been added to the

red list and classed as vulnerable and

near threatened, respectively.

Butterfly Conservation, which used

data from volunteers and funding from

Natural England to produce the red list,

said land use change was the biggest

reason for the decline but that climate

change was also having an impact.

All four British butterflies that are

adapted to cooler or damper climates

are listed as threatened (large heath,

Scotch argus, northern brown argus) or

near threatened (mountain ringlet).

However, some species are growing.

The large blue, which became extinct in

Britain in 1979 and has been the subject

of an intensive reintroduction

programme, has moved from critically

endangered to near threatened.

Dr Richard Fox, head of science at

Butterfly Conservation, said that

without further action “it is likely that

species will be lost from Britain’s

landscapes for good”. He added: “More

must be done to protect our butterflies

from the effects of changing land

management and climate change.”

Homegrown breakthroughs

Pigs Immune to porcine

reproductive and respiratory

syndrome, which costs the

European pig industry nearly

£1.5 billion a year (Roslin Institute at

Edinburgh University).

Chickens Resistant to bird flu

(Imperial College London, the

Pirbright Institute and the Roslin

Institute).

Wheat Toast less likely to produce

cancer-causing acrylamide

(Rothamsted Research and Bristol

University).

Tomatoes Biofortified with vitamin

D (John Innes Centre); resistant to

powdery mildew disease, meaning

less use of fungicides (Sainsbury

Laboratory).

Ben Webster Environment Editor