A right royal rumpus

People in more mature democracies may wonder why the British media disseminate so feverishly the opinions of someone described as ‘His Royal Highness’. Puzzlement was doubly justified recently when The Daily Telegraph published an article — flagged by other newspapers with headlines such as “Charles warns against genetic foods” — which it then largely demolished in an editorial. Prince Charles opined that the genetic engineering of crops “takes mankind into realms that belong to God, and to God alone.” Not so, said the editorial, citing the bible in support. Regarding the idea of genetic engineering being unnatural, it pointed out that modern cereals were the products of intensive plant breeding and that milk came from cows modified to lactate in such quantities that they would now barely survive without human care. The newspaper might have added that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), irrelevantly instanced by HRH to dramatise his case, would probably never have arisen if animal feedstuffs had been as tightly regulated as genetic manipulation. It could also have highlighted his ironic failure to realise that biological solutions facilitate, rather than frustrate, the royal desire to eschew pesticides and other agrochemicals. As the Daily Telegraph ran not only the leader but also a critical commentary by science editor Roger Highfield, it is hard to see why the original article was published at all. Among Highfield’s telling points, he observed that “to walk away from technologies that can improve the quality and quantity of the world’s food supply is perverse.” The press, radio and television furore surrounding HRH’s “Seeds of disaster” essay was only one example of the way in which the UK media have begun to talk-up alleged public alarm over recombinant DNA work in plants. The Independent, for example, published a substantial piece headed “Fears multiply over growth of genetic farms.” Yet this was simply an account of the increasing number of UK sites where transgenic crops are being grown, with a photograph of campaigners camping in a field. It contained no evidence whatever to support the assertion in the headline. “Should genetic engineering be stopped?” was the Talking Point question on BBC News’s website in response to HRH’s pronouncement. Coming just after “Is this the end for the Spice Girls?”, the item said that genetic engineering could produce “more deaths from new and more resilient diseases.”