Controversy as Minister met lobbyists hours before 'shift in policy' over GM foods

A leaked document reveals that Environment Minister Phil Woolas met the powerful Agriculture Biotechnology Council (ABC) last week to discuss the relaxation of rules on GM crop trials.

Just hours afterwards, he signalled a possible change in Government policy by telling a newspaper: ‘There is a growing question of whether GM crops can help the developing world out of the current food price crisis.

Talks: Environment Minister Phil Woolas met with the powerful Agriculture Biotechnology Council to discuss relaxing the rules on GM crop trials

'It is a question that we as a nation need to ask ourselves.’

Previously, Labour had shelved debate on the issue following widespread public concern over so-called ‘Frankenstein Foods’.

The document obtained by the BBC revealed that the ABC, whose members include executives from GM firms Monsanto and Bayer, had asked Mr Woolas to relax regulations that they claim prevent the industry from carrying out vital research into ways of wiping out famine.

The ABC argued that the Government should drop requirements to make the location of GM crop trials public, which they say allows vandals to destroy crops.

An entire crop of GM potatoes in Yorkshire was destroyed by eco-warriors earlier this month.

Though Mr Woolas has insisted that ‘robust’ procedures are needed to ensure the safety of GM experiments, anti-GM campaigners are deeply alarmed that the Government has reopened the controversial issue.

They said that the rules protected the environment and public health, and accused the Government of exploiting the world food crisis to relaunch its campaign for GM food.

Former Environment Minister Michael Meacher said that although lobbying was going on all the time, Ministers and officials were ‘too cosy’ with pro-GM advocates.

He said it was a ‘reasonable assumption’ that Mr Woolas’s meeting with the Council had influenced his subsequent comments, though he had no evidence.

Mr Meacher said companies hoped to cash in on the ‘potential commercial bonanza’ if GM crops were grown across Europe and the developing world, but added that this route was ‘dangerous’.

Mr Woolas was abroad and unable to comment last night.

But a spokesman for the Department of the Environment said: ‘It has always been the Government’s position that GM crops could offer a range of benefits over the longer term, including resisting droughts and pests, and that has not changed.

‘As Phil Woolas has reiterated, safety is our top priority.’