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G8 Summit: Blair Stands By Clinton In Defense Of GM Food

The Daily Telegraph reports that Tony Blair stood side by side with Bill Clinton yesterday as the US President accused Europe of being too cautious about experiments in biotechnology and genetically modified foods.

Mr Clinton repeated that he believed that GM foods were safe, and pleaded for decisions to be made on scientific evidence alone. "I would never knowingly let the American people eat unsafe food," Mr Clinton said. "The real issue is how you get the best food to the largest number of people in the world at the lowest possible price."

Mr Blair added: "Biotechnology is, perhaps, going to be, for the first half of the 21st century, what information technology was to the last half of the 20th century, and it's particularly important, especially for a country like Britain that is a leader in this science, that we proceed according to the facts. The most important thing is that we get access to the best scientific evidence. It's not always popular to say that, but I do think it's the right thing to do."