Name change for modified foods suggested

LONDON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Genetically modified foods might be more acceptable to the public if renamed as "vaccinated" or "inoculated," a British agricultural scientist says.

Anti-modified food campaigners immediately attacked the proposal by Bill Clark of Rothamsted Research agricultural station as a "completely desperate" idea, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

Clark said the renaming could help consumers understand the science and convince millions of families, the majority of whom are skeptical or outright hostile to genetically modified foods, the newspaper reported.

"Fifty years ago if you told parents you were going to vaccinate their child against measles that would sound horrendous," Clark said. "Now it is considered essential."

"But if we introduce a small part of a virus into a plant they would immediately say that's horrendous. But that's what you are doing with (genetically modified foods)," he said.

"We need a new language," he said. "Perhaps vaccination or inoculation is less scary for the public."

Clark's idea to "rebrand" genetically modified foods was attacked by Peter Melchett, policy director at the Soil Association, which campaigns for organic food and farming.

"This is the biggest load of desperate rubbish I've ever heard," he said.

"And they've tried this before. Back in the 1980s no one had heard of GM. It was called genetic engineering, and they thought it would sound nicer if they called it GM. It didn't work then and it won't work now," Melchett said.