GM TRIALS: GOVERNMENT MUST NOT RUSH DECISION - GEORGE

Commenting on reports that the Government's GM crop trials have been invalidated by a European Union ban on the weed killer atrazine, which was used in the trials, Andrew George MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, said:

"The Prime Minister and the Agriculture Secretary are hell bent upon forcing GMs on the UK. But decisions should be based on sound science, rather than the make-do science that the Government seems happy with.

"Consumers don't want it and supermarkets are not prepared to stock it. Farmers and growers would be mad to take on the liability when there is simply no commercial market for it.

"The decision on GM is likely to have irreversible consequences. The Government must re-set a more rational timetable for measured consideration, instead of bowing to pressure from the United States biotech giants."