Sunday Express

Anne Backs GM Food

Princess Anne yesterday came out in favour of genetically modified foods - in direct opposition to the views of the Prince of Wales.

The Princess will further infuriate her brother because she also questions the level of importance given to organic produce. According to Charles, GM food is "potentially disastrous" and opposing it is a "sign of strength and wisdom".

Last night leading food expert Professor Hugh Pennington said Anne's remarks amounted to a "slap in the face" for the Prince and the anti-GM food lobby. He said Anne's advisers were clearly better informed than Charles, whose views have left him accused of undermining Government attempts to convince the public about GM safety.

Princess Anne said: "Man has been tinkering with food production and plant development for such a long time that it's a bit cheeky to suddenly get nervous about it when fundamentally you are doing much the same thing.

"Of course shoppers feel the speed of change is too fast to understand what the dangers are and where the weak points might be. And that seems to me to be a perfectly valid argument.

"But it is a huge oversimplification to say all farming ought to be organic or there should be no GM foods. I'm sorry - but life isn't that simple. I think that they (organics) have their place. You can add value on the marginal farms through organics. But I fear they're not an overall answer," she said at Buckingham Palace.

The Princess, who is to be president of this month's Highland Show, added: "This country grows good grass. If you turn the clock back in Scotland its livestock has been the bedrock of industry.

"So good, traditional husbandry is no bad thing when it comes to maintaining the land. Yet if you consider things in terms of overall production and sheer weight of numbers, of supporting a population which has so hugely increased, then organics is not the whole answer.

"However, I'm sure that in some areas it will continue to be a much more important part of the farming background and everybody will benefit in the long term."

The Princess's intervention in the GM food debate, which she makes in an interview with The Grocer magazine, is the first significant challenge to Charles's views from within the Royal Family.

He first came out against what he branded "Frankenstein foods" five years ago. He has since faced accusations of being simply superstitious, of meddling in Government affairs and heightening fears.

But Charles is adamant that Britain should concentrate on more traditional farming methods and is in favour of more organic production.

In a Radio 4 broadcast last month he said: "If literally nothing is held sacred any more, because it is considered synonymous with superstition or in some other way irrational, what is there to prevent us treating our entire world as some great laboratory of life with potentially disastrous long-term consequences?" The Prince, who encourages organic farming at his Highgrove estate, added: "If a fraction of the money currently being invested in developing genetically manipulated crops were applied to understanding and improving traditional systems of agriculture which have stood the all-important test of time, the results would be remarkable."

He stresses that GM methods threaten to alter not only the food on our table, but the nature of life itself.

Opponents of GM foods, including the British Medical Association, say it has not been proven safe beyond doubt.

Leading supermarkets have taken steps to remove products with GM ingredients from shelves and declared customers, fearing pesticides and chemicals, were increasingly demanding more natural foods.

But the Government has also announced a three-year project to test the safety of GM crops at a number of sites around Britain. The products will not be sold commercially until all the tests have been completed.

Prof Pennington - who led the inquiry into the 1996 Lanarkshire E.coli outbreak which claimed 21 lives - said: "I have spoken to the Princess about health issues and she is very informed. I agree with everything she has said here. Her advisers are better than Charles's advisers.

"She has seen famine in the Third World and maybe she is looking at it from a practical point of view rather than one from a Western country's point where there is stacks of money and you can afford the luxury of organic food. Maybe it has left an impression on her that we cannot just rely on organics, which is not a very effective way of growing food.

"People in Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have targeted GM foods along with Prince Charles... this has to be a slap in the face for them.

"I don't believe the Princess is talking off the top of her head - it is quite a measured view."