Iceland non-GM stance anti-British

04 March 1999

Iceland non-GM stance ‘anti-British’

CIVIL servants have told the frozen-food retailer Iceland that the companys policy of guaranteeing foods with non-genetically modified (GM) ingredients will damage the national interest, it was claimed yesterday (Wednesday).

Government officials told Iceland that the retailer would not be able to find non-GM crops, said the companys technical manager, Richard Wadsworth.

Malcolm Walker, Icelands chairman, told the Commons science and technology committee that the regulatory committees supported a bias towards allowing genetic modification.

Mr Walker claimed that Janet Bainbridge, chairman of the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes, told him it was wrong to give consumers choices because they did not understand the issues.

• Iceland lobbies against GM foods in newspaper ads, FWi, 01 May, 1998
• Retailer bans genetically modified soya, FWi, 16 March, 1998
  

• Financial Times 04/03/99 page 10 (News Digest)