Leicester Mercury

Melton Councillors have decided not to support a call for a five-year ban on the growing of genetically modified foods.

But members of the local authority's environmental committee are urging caution over GM foods.

The decision comes after the recent announcement that a farm at Great Dalby is to be included in the next stage of the Government's GM testing programme.

It is proposed to grow GM oil-seed rape at Great Dalby in a three-year programme to allow independent researchers to study the effect on farmland wildlife.

The trial is in addition to current testing on GM oil-seed rape at Highfields Farm in Woodhouse, near Loughborough.

Today, Bob Child, chairman of Burton and Dalby Parish Council, said they would be discussing the issue of growing GM foods locally at their meeting on April 5.

He said: "Genetic engineering in food and farming is going ahead before there has been a thorough assessment of the potential risks to human and farm animal health and the environment.

"The public has not had a chance to be properly involved in decisions about genetically engineered foods and is faced with a situation where making a choice to avoid them is extremely difficult."

Arguments for and against a five-year freeze on GM foods were outlined by experts at a meeting of Melton Borough Council's environmental committee.

More than 100 national organisations and companies support the freeze campaign, including the National Federation of Women's Institutes and Friends of the Earth.

But Coun Gerald Botterill, a farmer, told the committee that farming had to look forward and could not stand still. He said that GM crops also had advantages, including cutting down considerably on the use of spray chemicals.

Coun Elaine Holmes, a farmer's wife, thought the advantages of GM crops far outweighed the disadvantages.

She said: "We have to feed more people all the time. And I am not sure a five-year ban on GM crops is the right way."

Members agreed that a precautionary approach should be adopted towards the development and use of GM food, and to raise any worries with MPs and MEPs. They also want local authorities to be consulted on all applications to release GM organisms into the environment.