Blair admits concern over GM food

Prime Minister Tony Blair has admitted that genetically-modified crops may pose a health risk on the eve of the first global conference on the new technology held this week in Edinburgh.

The Independent on Sunday, which ran the exclusive article, billed the admission as a dramatic U-turn from Blair's assertion a year ago that GM foods were safe enough for him and his family to eat.

Conceding that "there is cause for legitimate public concern", Blair wrote "There is no doubt that there is potential for harm, both in terms of human safety and in the diversity of our environment, from GM foods and crops."

Dr Arpad Pusztai, the scientist who was sacked when he publicised the first experimental evidence that some GM foods might be unsafe to eat and has campaigned for proper testing, regarded the statement as " a step in the right direction to taking the precautionary principle much more seriously."

However, he and other scientists still dispute Blair's assertion that the Bt corn and soya approved for sale in this country have been through any form of rigorous testing.

*See this Thursday's Caterer (2/3/00) for an indepth interview with Dr Arpad Pusztai