La CE pide a los Veintisiete la autorización de tres maíces y una patata transgénicos

La Comisión Europea transmitió hoy una petición de autorización al Consejo de la UE a los Estados miembros para que dé su visto bueno al utilización en la UE de tres variantes de maíz transgénico para alimentación, importación y transformación industrial y de una patata transgénica, en este caso para su procesamiento industrial, aunque con un límite permitido de contaminación del 0,9% en los alimentos.

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EU Commission sends proposals to ministers for authorisation of GM potato, maize

The European Commission said it has transmitted proposals to ministers for the authorisation of four genetically modified (GM) maize and potato products.

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Frankenstein food beats starvation

AS we eat our chips, hamburgers and milkshakes for lunch today, let's put the debate about genetically modified food into perspective. We eat food laden in fats and preservatives largely without debate or complaint. Yet the prospect of producing GM foods that could be drought resistant, grown without being heavily treated with pesticide and made more nutritious has caused a huge outcry.

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The GM potato war

Colin Barras explains the latest row triggered by genetic modification.

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Europa autorizaría siembra de papa modificada genéticamente

Se trata de la papa Amflora, diseñada para su uso como almidón industrial. Sería el primer producto genéticamente modificado cuyo cultivo se autorice en la Unión Europea desde hace casi un decenio y podría generar 30 millones de euros (US$43,7 millones) en ganancias anuales a BASF.

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BASF's Amflora Potato Delivers Gene-Modified Profits (Update4)

BASF AG, the world's largest chemical maker, is weeks away from challenging European resistance to genetically modified plants with a potato that will reap profit and share gains along with other bio-engineered crops.

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Has GMs time finally come

Extreme weather caused massive crop damage this year. Some European farmers think GM could be the answer. But is the UK consumer ready to embrace Frankenfoods, asks Nic Paton Genetically modified foods have sparked much controversy in the UK over the past decade.

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Cyprus says no to GM food

The European Union is divided by two regarding GM foods. This was announced during the voting of experts from the 27 member states, held last week. Then it had to be decided whether the German company BASF should receive permission to grow genetically modified potatoes, a newspaper, issued by the Russian community in Cyprus reads.

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Impulso oficial a los transgénicos en Viña del Mar

Las transnacionales del negocio de los transgénicos, y los científicos que trabajan para ellas, apoyados por FAO, (Organización de Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación), inician el lunes 22 de octubre el "VI Encuentro Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Biotecnología Agropecuaria" o RedBio2007, en el Hotel Sheraton Miramar de Viña del Mar (...) Este evento que cada tres años sacraliza la alianza entre transnacionales, científicos y gobiernos, trae entre sus máximos expositores a figuras ampliamente cuestionadas en sus naciones de origen. William Roca, del Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) de Perú recibirá la medalla RedBio por el lanzamiento de la papa Bt, una papa transgénica dada a conocer en julio de este año, manipulada genéticamente para resistir a enfermedades como el tizón y la rancha, cuyo cultivo contaminará irreversiblemente las valiosas variedades nativas.

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Polémica en Europa por la utilización de una papa transgénica

Los científicos de los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea no lograron ponerse de acuerdo el miércoles sobre la utilización de una papa transgénica cuyos residuos sería destinados a la alimentación animal, una controvertida cuestión que también divide a la Comisión Europea.

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Against The Grain: 'GM crops do not harm health'

Chris Leaver is Sibthorpian Professor of Plant Science at Oxford University. He argues that genetically modified food is safe and necessary.

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Los expertos trasladan a los países la decisión de autorizar la patata transgénica y otros 3 OGM

Los expertos de los 27 Estados miembros que forman parte del Comité Permanente para la Cadena Alimentaria y la Salud Animal no lograron hoy tomar ninguna decisión, ni a favor ni en contra, para autorizar el uso en la UE de tres tipos de maíz trangénico y la patata modificada transgénicamente.

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La UE decidirá mañana si permite restos accidentales de patata OGM en los alimentos

Los expertos de la UE -representados en el Comité Permanente de la Cadena Alimentaria- votarán mañana, miércoles, la autorización o no de una patata transgénica para usar su fécula como piensos, y si se permite su presencia accidental en hasta un 0,9% de alimentos convencionales.

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Potato at heart of new debate on GM crops

HE humble potato looks like causing a showdown in the European Commission over biotech foods and crops. Since July, the biotech industry has been waiting for the commission to authorise an application by German chemicals group BASF for a genetically modified (GM) potato for use in industry, rather than as food.

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Patata OMG tolerante al frío

Investigadores norteamericanos y coreanos han desarrollado una patata transgénica, transformada con el gen AtBCF de la planta Arabidopsis thaliana que induce resistencia al frío, así como otro gen promotor que aumenta la expresión de este gen. Las plantas OMG así obtenidas pueden soportar temperaturas de hasta 5 grados bajo cero y mantienen buenas aptitudes agronómicas.

Los esfuerzos anteriores para obtener patatas tolerantes al frío mediante métodos genéticos convencionales no habían tenido éxito o habían resultado en patatas con características indeseables, como retrasos en el crecimiento o en la floración.

Esta misma biotecnología podría ser empleada para inducir tolerancia al frío en otras especies agrícolas.

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Return of GM: ministers back moves to grow crops in UK

Government ministers have given their backing to a renewed campaign by farmers and industry to introduce genetically modified crops to the UK, the Guardian has learned.

They believe the public will now accept that the technology is vital to the development of higher-yield and hardier food for the world's increasing population and will help produce crops that can be used as biofuels in the fight against climate change.

"GM will come back to the UK; the question is how it comes back, not whether it's coming back," said a senior government source.

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Genetically Modified: how the EU embraces “frankenstein foods”

Europe has been resistant to products containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), insisting on the worlds toughest labelling regime and outraging the US who accuse them of violating free trade agreements over the products.

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Views and Analysis

Professor Howard Davies, Director of Science Co-ordination at SCRI, was recently interviewed on the subject of GM crops in Scotland. The interview coincided with the announcement that scientists at SCRI had won a share of a £400,000 project to research techniques relevant for the safety assessment of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). The research is being funded by the Food Standards Agency.

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Patata transgénica: una nueva amenaza para Europa

Se plantean nuevas amenazas para los consumidores europeos. La Comisión Europea está decidida a ignorar su opinión y seguir introduciendo nuevos cultivos modificados genéticamente (MG) en Europa. No es suficiente con el maíz, ahora la Comisión se dispone a imponer, sin el apoyo de los países miembros, el cultivo de una patata transgénica. Su aprobación supondría el primer cultivo transgénico autorizado en la Unión Europea (UE) desde hace diez años.

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Europe opposes the entry of GM potato

European environmental groups are critical of Amflora potatoes, saying they could release dangerous genes into the environment.

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EC to approve starch-rich GM potato

The European Commission has announced that it will approve BASF's Amflora genetically modified potato to be grown in Europe, the first authorisation for the growing of a GM crop in Europe since 1998.

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Perú: apoyo urgente !!! “No a la papa transgénica”

La papa es originaria de los Andes, con una altísima biodiversidad y presencia de parientes silvestres en Perú. La papa es el cultivo más importante en la región andina y está asociado no sólo con la soberanía alimentaria de los pueblos, sino con las relaciones de reciprocidad y de fortalecimiento del tejido social comunitario. Por lo que la sola experimentación con papa transgénica en un país que es centro de origen y diversidad, es poner en riesgo no sólo a la rica biodiversidad existente, sino a las poblaciones humanas que sustentan esa diversidad.

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Malta loses battle to stop cultivation of GM potato

Along with 10 other EU member States, Malta lost its battle against the approval of the cultivation of GM potatoes.

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Untested, Risky Genetically Modified Potato Banned

A major region of Peru has banned genetically modified (GM) varieties of a crop that has been grown organically for thousands of years and which helped to fuel the ancient Inca empire.

The Cusco regional government's Order 010 is intended to protect the genetic diversity of thousands of native potato varieties. It forbids the sale, cultivation, use and transport of GM potatoes as well as other native food crops.

The potato originated in the highlands of South America. Peru and its Andean neighbours are the crop's centre of diversity - with more than 4,000 distinct varieties that farmers have developed over generations.

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Ministers wary of hot GM potato

The European Union is expected to sidestep hostile public opinion by approving the cultivation of a genetically modified crop via the "back door" of a bureaucratic Brussels procedure.

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Greenpeace pide a la UE que no autorice el cultivo de una patata transgénica

Greenpeace pidió hoy a la Unión Europea que rechace la propuesta de la Comisión para permitir el cultivo de una patata modificada genéticamente que se empleará para la producción de almidón y pienso alegando que contiene genes que la hacen resistente a los antibióticos y supone por ello un riesgo significativo para la salud y el medioambiente.

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Estrategias para la coexistencia de cultivos GM y no-GM

La coexistencia de sistemas de cultivo convencional, orgánico y genéticamente modificado (GM) es importante por varias razones. Esta clase de sistema ayuda a explotar oportunidades de mercado, mantener valores culturales diferentes, proteger la diversidad biológica y hacer frente a condiciones ambientales variables. Pero no hay ninguna solución fácil, o un modelo extensamente aceptado, para poner en práctica la coexistencia. Los cultivos genéticamente modificados pueden ser espacial o temporalmente separados de aquellos no-GM, y el etiquetado es visto cada vez más como algo esencial para proteger la elección de consumidor. Pero las estrategias de coexistencia son escasas todavía en la mayor parte del mundo en desarrollo. Los responsables de formular las políticas necesitan desarrollar reglas que sean proporcionadas, eficientes, rentables y específicas para sistemas de cultivo y de cosecha particulares.

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Científicos peruanos crean papa resistente a polillas

Después de cuatro años intermitentes de investigaciones, científicos del Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP) anunciaron ayer la obtención, mediante ingeniería genética, de una variedad de papa resistente a los insectos, con lo cual se habría logrado la primera especie transgénica del Perú.

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BASF disappointed at Amflora decision delay

BASF is standing by the safety of its Amflora genetically optimised starch potato as the EU Council of Ministers postpones its decision on commercial optimisation, and urges swifter adoption of new technologies for the bloc.

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A discussion: GM crops: 'Point of no return in ten years'

EUROPE will increase its genetically modified (GMO) crop area by 50,000-100,000 hectares a year over the next decade, US biotech giant Monsanto has said.

"It will be slow but within ten years GMOs will have reached the point of no return," said Jean-Michel Duhamel, Monsanto's director for southern Europe.

"The technology will not impose itself on consumers but consumers will better understand the usefulness of GMO technology as farmers increasingly adopt it," he added.

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GMO potato takes shape in EU, no French fries yet

European regulators are pushing ahead with plans to allow farmers to grow a genetically modified (GMO) potato but focusing first on its use in feed and non-food industries due to opposition from several GMO-wary countries.

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BASF hopes for EU approval for genetically modified potato Amflora in 2007

BASF AG plans to expand its research in plant technology and is hoping to obtain EU approval for its genetically modified potato - Amflora - in 2007, reported Handelsblatt newspaper in an interview with board member Peter Oakley, in an excerpt of an article due for publication on Monday.

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Latinoamérica debe abrir los ojos a la biotecnología

La biotecnología o el uso de la biología con fines industriales es una actividad "beneficiosa para la humanidad" ante la que Latinoamérica debe "abrir los ojos", según coincidieron varios expertos en un congreso sobre comercio en Miami. En la conferencia "La biotecnología en el proceso de globalización", del XXVIII Congreso Hemisférico de la Cámara de Comercio Latina de EE.UU. (Camacol), que termina hoy, se analizó el papel de la biotecnología y su impacto en Latinoamérica.

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GM Crops Good for Swedish Farm Economy

There is no cultivation of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in Sweden today but prospects for future cultivation look good. According to a recent report from the Swedish Institute for Food and Agricultural Economics (SLI), cultivating GM crops would be economically profitable for Swedish farmers. SLI is a government agency commissioned to carry out economic analyses within the fields of agriculture, foods and fishing.

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Debate on GM food becoming a political fight

The genetically modified (GM) food issue continues to raise its head, with the result that more and more public comment comes along. In principle, public comment is good, but public comment should not intrude deeper into the issue than the public can comprehend, or than it is able to add value. For example, if there is public comment on heart transplants, that is good – if the comment is about the ethics of transplants, and which hospitals should be equipped to handle such work.

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Southern Africa: GMO Products Spread in SADC - Study

GENETICALLY Modified Organism products and seed are fast spreading into most Southern African countries which lack the technological capacity to screen and detect GMOs, a new study has revealed.

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GM potato crop trial approved

Biotech firm BASF has been given permission to grow genetically modified potatoes at a farm near Hull. It will use a one-hectare site between Preston and Hedon, east of Hull, to grow up to 45,000 GM potatoes a year until 2011. A petition signed by 600 people has expressed concerns, including the risk of GM potatoes cross-pollinating with non-GM crops.

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India: GM potato to reduce blight disease

Introduction of genetically modified potato seeds would reduce damages due to occurrence of the blight disease, said a senior scientist at the Shimla-based Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI).

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India: Supreme Court lifts 8-month ban on field trials of GM crops

One of the riders for conducting future field trials would require the company to disclose a detailed report of the toxicity and allergenicity of the GM-crops being cultivated.

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GM crops trials return to UK farms

Trials of genetically modified crops are taking place again in the UK three years after being abandoned over ecological concerns. A crop of GM potatoes was planted last weekend and a report commissioned by the Government calls for a change in the way agriculture is regulated in the UK.

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Golden potatoes engineered to give beta-carotene boost

A 250 gram serving of "Golden" Potatoes, engineered to produce high quantities of of the pro-vitamin A beta-carotene, could provide half the recommended daily intake of vitamin A, suggests new research.

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Patata dorada” OMG, rica en beta-caroteno, obtenida en Italia

El instituto público de investigación italiano ENEA (Ente per le Nuove tecnologie, l’Energia e l’Ambiente) ha anunciado la obtención conjunta con la Universidad de Friburgo de de una patata transgénica que contiene 3.600 veces más beta-caroteno o provitamina A que las patatas convencionales.

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Non GM Potatoes planted at Hedon test site

Protesters are planting non-GM potatoes in the field near Hull where BASF intend to trial their GM potato variety. About 100 protesters are spread across the large (several acre) field, with two mounted police and 2 foot police standing by watching - not even filming, for once.

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¿Por qué los organismos transgénicos son diferentes a los convencionales?

La diseminación de organismos transgénicos como alimentos causa alarma y preocupación, pues existen argumentos para señalar que su aprobación ha girado en torno a un dejar hacer y dejar pasar de la comunidad científica internacional y de las entidades reguladoras.

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GM Potatoes - Blessing or Blight?

On Monday 2 April, Cambridge GM Concern organized a public meeting regarding the forthcoming NIAB/BASF trial of GM potatoes in the Cambridge area. Some fifty people turned up for the event, which featured three speakers, who had travelled up from London for the occasion: Michael Antoniou is a Reader in Molecular Genetics at Guy's Hospital Medical School, Helena Paul is the chair of GM Freeze, and Clare Oxborrow is from the Real Food Campaign organized by Friends of the Earth.

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Protesters urge GM trials delay

PROTESTERS against genetically modified potatoes held a public meeting last night to highlight what they see as the dangers of meddling with nature.

German company BASF plans to plant blight resistant potatoes on land owned by the Cambridgebased National Institute of Agricultural Botany later in the spring.

But Friends of the Earth wants the Government to reconsider after a Dutch court ruled earlier this month that BASF's permit for trials in Holland breached European law.

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GM Potato Controversy - A case with disturbing implications for present day science

Editor's note: We thank Dr. Arpad J. Pusztai very much for his article. Dr. Pusztai has been directly involved as a principal investigator in the researching of GM potatoes and what he told here is absolutely an insider story.

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Interview: Jonathan Matthews from GM-Watch on Channel 4's 'Animal Farm'

This week marked the start of Channel 4's three-part documentary, 'Animal Farm'. We asked Jonathan Matthews, founder and editor of the GM-Watch website, whether Channel 4's reporting was fair.

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Is Monsanto Going to Seed?

Many people like to consider Monsanto (NYSE: MON) part of the brave new world of biotech. However, the company has long been shrouded in controversy, and there could be more in store.

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GMOs unfit for consumption

The work of press agents consists of not just getting the media to carry news favorable to their clients, but also to suppress information inimical to their business. Jargon in the traditional newsroom has an aptly descriptive phrase for it: “Kill story!”

One story that has suffered down play—as of this writing—comes from a scientific study, which found that genetically modified (GM) corn approved by Philippine authorities shows signs of toxicity to mammals. The giant agribusiness multinational Monsanto markets the GM corn in several countries, including ours, for animal feeds, food processing and human consumption.

That the issue has a direct bearing on public health should be apparent. Yet many major news organizations failed to give it the prominence it obviously deserves—if they ran the story at all.

The study, written by a panel of three scientists in France, showed that laboratory rats fed with GMO corn Monsanto (MON) 863 YieldGard Root­wom displayed kidney and liver toxicity.

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GM starch potato: still no cultivation in 2007

The Amflora potato, developed by BASF Plant Science with an altered starch composition, apparently may not yet be cultivated this year in the EU. As reported by the magazine Agrar Europe, the European Commission has requested an opinion from the European Medicines Agency, EMEA, as prerequisite to an approval decision.

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Mixed reaction to DEFRA GM potato trials announcement

DEFRA has published details of a proposed site for a genetically modified potato trial in Yorkshire.

The site, which will test the effectiveness of the GM potato's resistance against UK strains of late potato blight, has been proposed by agrochemical company BASF. It is needed, the company says, to replace a site in Derbyshire that pulled out in December 2006.

It will now have to undergo an approval procedure with DEFRA. This has begun with the department calling for any interested parties to make representations about "the risk of environmental damage posed by the GM trial".

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Growers fight plan to hold GM potato crop trial in region

CAMPAIGNERS have vowed to fight attempts to hold a genetically modified potato trial in East Yorkshire. Crop development business BASF Plant Science wants to carry out a five-year trial of a potato modified to resist the devastating fungal disease late blight at a farm in the Hedon/Preston area, after a Derbyshire farm pulled out.

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Defra invites views on proposed new site for GM potato trials

Defra gave approval in December for the company BASF to undertake research trials of a GM potato at two sites in England, one in Cambridgeshire and the other in Derbyshire.

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New GM food fears

A British newspaper is reporting clinical links between genetically modified (GM) foods and cancer.

A weekend article in the Independent cites a Russian study affirming the work of Árpád Pusztai. Pusztai is a Hungarian-born protein scientist who in 1998 published an article in The Lancet medical journal raising questions about GM food safety. He detailed genetic damage observed in the digestive tracts of rats fed a diet of genetically modified potatoes. It concluded that the abnormalities were "mainly due to the expression of the GNA transgene in the potato."

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Secret Monsanto Genetically Engineered Potato Study Suppressed for 8 Years

A secret feeding study of Monsanto GM potatoes, conducted in 1998 by the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and suppressed for 8 years, showed that the potatoes did considerable damage to the organs of the rats in the study. In comparison the rats in the “control groups” which were fed on normal potatoes or on a non-potato diet were healthier, and had much less organ and tissue damage. This research, fully supported by Monsanto through the provision of the GM potatoes, was conducted at approximately the same time as Arpad Pusztai’s research in the Rowett Institute.

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Secret Monsanto Genetically Engineered Potato Study Suppressed for 8 Years

A secret feeding study of Monsanto GM potatoes, conducted in 1998 by the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and suppressed for 8 years, showed that the potatoes did considerable damage to the organs of the rats in the study (1) (2). In comparison the rats in the “control groups” which were fed on normal potatoes or on a non-potato diet were healthier, and had much less organ and tissue damage. This research, fully supported by Monsanto through the provision of the GM potatoes, was conducted at approximately the same time as Arpad Pusztai’s research in the Rowett Institute.

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SA: GM crops cover 1,4m hectares

South African farmers, commercial and emergent, are growing more genetically modified (GM) crops.

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Jamais Cascio - Open the Future

Denise Caruso’s new column at the New York Times kicks off with an essay on patents in the world of biotechnology. Most of the piece looks at how to build an intellectual property regime for biotechnology that serves the interests of society, not just a handful of companies. She cites a troubling, if not surprising, statistic: more than 20% of the human genome has already been patented, mostly by corporate biotech.

She also mentions the case of genetically-modified potatoes from biotech firm Syngenta. Not only are the GM spuds patented, they’ve been modified to be sterile without the application of a particular chemical. Potato farmers can’t “copy” the crop without paying a fee.

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200m ha of GM crops seen by '15

At least 20 million farmers in 40 countries would be growing genetically modified (GM) crops on 200 million hectares by 2015, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri- Biotech Applications (ISAAA) said on Tuesday.

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Idaho's Simplot company tries to perfect GM potatoes

In the potato capital of the world, spud honchos made sizzling rich on America's french fry affair fill downtown offices. In the distance, potato fields sprawl east and west and there are ample cafes to carbo-load on spuds served baked, stuffed, fried and, somewhat miraculously, frozen into ice cream.

And inside tucked-away laboratories in the town that hash browns built, teams of scientists are splicing potato genes, working daily to perfect Idaho's top cash crop with modern biotechnology.

At J.R. Simplot Co., the eponymous potato company founded by Idaho's richest man, biologists have used gene technology to design a spud that's tastier and resistant to unsightly bruises and sprouts.

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En busca de la patata perfecta

Un grupo de biólogos de Idaho (Estados Unidos) han empleado técnicas de ingeniería genética para lograr patatas con más sabor y resistentes a magulladuras y al nacimiento de brotes, según recoge la lista de distribución de noticias Agbioworld. Los responsables de la compañía que desarrolla la investigación, J. R. Simplot, productora de patatas congeladas, fertilizantes, semillas y piensos para ganado, sostienen que todavía tendrán que pasar entre cinco y diez años para que esta patata mejorada genéticamente pueda ser comercializada.

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EU to debate Hungary GMO ban, flowers and potatoes

EU environment ministers will rekindle Europe's simmering row on genetically modified (GMO) foods next month when they tackle three different strands of the debate, including whether to authorize a "live" biotech crop.

All three GMO items, to be debated when the ministers meet on February 20, have already undergone a lower-level process when EU experts failed to reach a required majority consensus. Under EU law, those items now pass to ministers for approval.

Two of them look set to be highly controversial: a draft order for Hungary to lift its ban on a GMO maize and a proposal to let farmers grow a GMO potato, the EU's first attempt in eight years to approve a biotech crop designed for cultivation.

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'Insulted' farmers pick GM potato fight with Syngenta

A coalition of indigenous farmers in South America will today (12 January)
launch an international protest against the multinational corporation Syngenta, claiming that its plans threaten their region's biodiversity, culture and food sovereignty.

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GE Crops Slow to Gain Global Acceptance

Widespread use of genetically engineered (GE) crops remains limited worldwide, even as growing weed and pest issues are forcing farmers to use ever greater amounts of pesticides.

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Idaho company tries to perfect a genetically modified potato that's tastier and healthier

BOISE, Idaho: Inside tucked-away labs in this town built by french fries, teams of scientists are splicing potato genes, working daily to improve Idaho's top cash crop with modern biotechnology.

At J.R. Simplot Co., biologists hope to create the first genetically modified potato, designing a spud that's tastier and resistant to unsightly bruises and sprouts.

What's more, the potato's revamped gene structure rebuffs acrylamides, potentially dangerous chemicals that studies suggest bond with sugars in fried potatoes.

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Seeding starvation in Iraq

In 2004, when L. Paul Bremer III left his position as Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) administrator to “transfer sovereignty,” he also left behind 100 deadly orders to govern Iraq. Order 81, which included “Patent, Industrial Design, Integrated Circuits and Plant Variety,” prohibited Iraqis from reusing seeds of “new” plant varieties patented under the law. Think about that for a second . . .

What that order means is that seeds from those “new” varieties cannot be saved for reuse, at least not without paying a royalty to its “manufacturer,” whether it’s Monsanto, Dow, Dupont, or any of the other genetically-modifying seed giants. This could easily bankrupt farmers and contribute vastly to massive food shortages and starvation.

This law amended Iraq’s original patent law of 1970. Until it is revised or cancelled by a new Iraqi government, it is legally binding under the hawkish wing of the colonizing CPA. Historically, the Iraqi constitution prohibited private ownership of biological resources. Yet this US-stamped patent law does just that. It introduces a plan for monopoly rights over seeds, if you can believe it.

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New potatoes, markets eyed

Rapid growth in developing countries, says Joe Guenthner, University of Idaho economist.

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Fury as genetically modified potatoes given go-ahead in UK

Ministers have been accused of ignoring consumers and risking contamination of the countryside after giving the green light for genetically modified potatoes to be grown in the UK.

The Government granted permission for the GM variety to be cultivated at two trial sites, prompting claims that they are stealthily trying to reintroduce the technology after previously being forced to back away from it by public opposition.

Plans to grow Britain's first commercial GM crop - a bioengineered maize - were abandoned two-and-a-half years ago in the face of consumer protests.

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