STATEMENT FOR THE PRESS

Edinburgh, 1 March 2000

Comment by Dr Geoffrey Clements, Leader of the Natural Law Party, on the outcome of the OECD Edinburgh Conference on GM Food Safety

"The Natural Law Party welcomes the OECD's attempt to have a more inclusive debate about the safety of genetically engineered food. However, we feel that a more serious account must be taken of the fundamental long- and short-term risks associated with the process of genetic engineering of food.

"The revelations by US attorney Steven Druker from the internal documents of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the published scientific papers catalogued in the latest annual report of the John Innes Centre (which is funded by the UK government and advises the government on food safety) demonstrate the serious concerns of numerous scientists about the potential risks of GM crops.

"There was much discussion about the 'precautionary principle', which the UK and other nations signed up to in the Montreal UN Bio-Safety Protocol. In his final remarks, the conference chairman Sir John Krebs interpreted this principle as meaning that if there is scientific concern then one should err on the side of caution. In the light of the many food scares of recent years, including the BSE crisis, we recommend the interpretation that where there is concern one should not go ahead, putting the whole population at risk. This is especially so in the light of the fact that we do not actually need the technology since there are readily available natural alternatives

"In his article published in The Independent on Sunday (27 February 2000), the Prime Minister promises that 'No GM food will be put on the market here without going through the most rigorous safety assessments in the world. ' We urge the UK Government to stand by this and withdraw all GM foods currently on the market, including all derivatives and animal feeds, and to stop the introduction of any new GM crops and foods.

"Furthermore, the disclosures this week from documents released under the US Freedom of Information Act reveal that - despite his protestations otherwise - the Prime Minister and government of this country have been pressured by the US government with regard to the introduction of GM foods. This is unacceptable. We are not the 51st state of the USA. We are a sovereign nation in the EU.

"In his article in The Independent, the Prime Minister said there are only two GM foods on sale in the UK. In fact, there are numerous, many of which are on the market in the UK with no testing or approval. This is because, there are no restrictions or testing requirements for the importation of GM ingredients in processed foods. All GM foods imported from the USA in this way have therefore only been subjected to FDA procedures, which Steven Druker's lawsuit is exposing to be fraudulent.

"The Prime Minister states that only after four years of field trials will any decision be taken on the commercial growing of GM crops. Yet there are - at this moment - moves being made to add a variety of GM maize manufactured by Aventis to the national seeds register. This will be the first GM seed to be added to the list, and therefore the first that farmers can legally grow freely. This in the face of the reports from the John Innes Centre and other scientists that there are very real dangers posed by virtue of the methods involved in genetic modification, such as the use of viral genetic material - a feature of most GM crops. We can only conclude that either government ministers have not been briefed on this issue, or have chosen to ignore it.

"Tony Blair says in his article: 'The potential for harm shows why we are right to proceed very cautiously indeed.' With the concerns voiced by scientists at the FDA, John Innes Centre, and other institutions, the government should remove all GM produce from the market and introduce controls on all imported GM foodstuffs and animal feeds.

"The Natural Law Party strongly urges the government to redirect funding from genetically modified crops and foods, and place it with the only real prospect for sustainable and healthy food production - through natural agriculture."