A British Cabinet Office minister, Dr Jack Cunningham, yesterday insisted the government would not halt research into genetically modified (GM) food. He denied that companies involved in developing such products received special treatment from the government.
He also and defended a fellow minister from Tory attack over alleged links with GM firms.
Dr Cunningham, who heads the Cabinet Committee on Biotechnology, spent a third day in intensive media activity as the row over the so-called "Frankenstein food" industry, and Labour's relations with it, continued.
Dr Cunningham said it would be "ridiculous" to bring the bio-science industry "grinding to a halt" because of the leaked report on research into GM potatoes that suggested there were risks involved.
He said: "Because there's been some dispute about some GM potato experiments in the laboratory, that is no reason to suggest we should bring the whole of our bio-science and GM technology and research grinding to a halt."
He challenged scientists to produce the full findings of experiments by Dr Arpad Pusztai, who claims rats fed with GM potatoes suffered serious health problems.
Some consumer and environmental groups want a moratorium on the release of GM products and crops until more is known of their effects.
The Shadow trade and industry secretary, Mr John Redwood, called yesterday for the Science Minister, Lord Sainsbury, to be moved from his position because of his links with the industry. Mr Redwood said: "We desperately need an independent minister, not Lord Sainsbury, who can get a grip on this issue."
Dr Cunningham retorted: "He does not have any conflict of interest in this matter at all. Any shares he has are in a trust fund, nothing to do with what is going on in determining government policy, so I absolutely think it's appalling that someone of his integrity and ability should be smeared in the way some people are doing."
Mr Redwood claimed the trust was not as independent of the minister as the government said.
"It's not a blind trust. David Sainsbury and the whole world knows that he has a big shareholding in the supermarket chain and we also know that he was an investor in two companies that are going to make money out of GM food," he said.
Lord Sainsbury had to be moved because he had "already made up his mind" on the benefits of GM food, Mr Redwood added.
He also targeted Dr Cunningham himself over his handling of the affair, declaring: "We have no confidence with Dr Cunningham. He's been misleading the House of Commons and the public and we think he should go."
Mr Redwood referred to English Nature's claims, denied by the minister, that Dr Cunningham quoted selectively from a letter it wrote to back his claim it did not want a moratorium.
Lord Sainsbury has been the subject of repeated Tory attacks over his business connections.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Paddy Ashdown, said the government had "miscalculated" the public attitude to GM foods.
"The government's got this wrong and they are going to have to do a U-turn, and they are going to have to do it quite quickly and they are going to have to make it look as elegant as they can," he said.
The Tory leader, Mr William Hague, interviewed from America for Sky News's Sunday with Adam Boulton, repeated his call for the release of GM crops to be put on hold for at least three years until their effect on Britain's environment had been fully researched.
"We need to know much more about that and I'm very worried in general about GM crops and foods. There's something that does not seem right to me about this process," he said. The Conservative agriculture spokesman, Mr Tim Yeo, said his party accepted field trials of GM crops must continue to assess their safety.
Pointing to reports about former Labour staff working for the GM food giant Monsanto, he claimed: "The government seems to be very, very close to a number of the companies that are involved."