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brit opposition party wants moratorium on planting new crops


Dare one hope that this means the subject of GM foods will be publically
discussed, and the results honestly reported in the main media ? 

Cheers for 1999
MichaelP


 =====================================
London TIMES   January 1 1999
   
   
                  Tories call for more studies of GM crops
                                      
               BY MICHAEL HORNSBY, AGRICULTURE CORRESPONDENT
                                      
   THE Tories yesterday called for a delay of at least three years on the
   commercial growing of genetically modified crops to allow time for
   more research into their safety.
   
   Tim Yeo, the Shadow Agriculture Minister, said that widespread
   anxieties about such crops needed to be allayed if their potentially
   significant benefits for future food production were to be realised.
   Commercial planting should be postponed for at least the rest of this
   Parliament, Mr Yeo said, by which time a number of
   government-commissioned studies on the environmental impact of
   genetically modified crops would have been completed.
   
   "We will have a lot more information by then and the position could be
   reviewed," he said. There is a very strong argument for somewhat more
   caution than the Government has so far shown and very little to be
   lost by slowing down a bit."
   
   He added: "Many environmental groups have called for a moratorium for
   up to three years to ensure a proper examination of the impact of
   genetically modified organisms on the British countryside.
   
   "The Labour Government's attitude to this is not clear but the case
   for delay has been strengthened by their failure to provide full
   details of their own testing.
   
   "Against this background I believe the commercial release of such
   crops should be delayed until the results of government-commissioned
   studies on the impact of genetically modified crops are available," he
   said.
   
   In October the Government announced that it had reached a voluntary
   agreement with the plant-breeding industry for a delay of at least
   three years in the commercial growing of any crops genetically
   engineered to be resistant to insect pests.
   
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