The contaminated risk of GM crops: nationalism and the genetic modification debate

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines the UK press coverage of genetically modified crops within the EU and explores how the theme of nationalism is utilized within the genetic modification (GM) debate. The way in which the EU is represented shifts, depending on whether it is being described in relation to the UK or the rest of the world (usually the USA). The EU is placed either as a threat to the UK, forcing genetically modified organisms into the country, or as a barrier, protecting UK citizens from the corrupt forces of the USA. This paper focuses on how countries and continents are constructed as being free of genetically modified organisms and how notions of nationalism and purity are used to achieve this. It argues that the way in which genetic modification is discussed often leads to an inherent but unintended xenophobic discourse. It is not just the mixing of genes that we are told to fear; the mixing of peoples is also alluded to. This paper explores the ways in which risks can be merged, as genetic modification specifically becomes linked to the asylum debate. Finally, the paper will discuss the dangers of contaminating the genetic modification debate with xenophobic arguments. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.