Tuesday, February 16, 1999 Published at 17:17 GMT
'Confidence' move on GM food
Jeff Rooker: Public safety is our priority
The government has acted to try to reassure consumers that genetically-modified food is safe.
Minister for Food Safety Jeff Rooker told the House of Commons the public could have "confidence", despite growing concerns.
The public's safety was the government's first priority, he told MPs.
He said that because of the work of the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes "no food comes on to the market unless it is safe".
But shadow agriculture minister Tim Yeo called for the government to announce "a three-year delay before herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant crops can be planted commercially".
Mr Yeo warned that public confidence in the safety of GM food was being damaged by the government's "mishandling" of the issue.
The statement follows a scare on GM foods after some scientists argued that the immune system of rats was damaged after eating GM potatoes.
Prime Minister Tony Blair insists the foods are safe and is resisting a ban on GM products.
He said: "This is a new science and a new technology so we should proceed with very great care and very great caution, and with a strongly regulatory process. That is precisely what we are doing."
But many environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, are calling for a five-year moratorium on the commercial production of GM crops in the UK.
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