New fears over GM crops

Dramatic new research claims to show the danger of GM food.

The new study sets out for the first time the potential danger of the controversial crops to humans.

Scientists found that GM maize may cause breathing difficulties that could lead to long-term respiratory problems and skin rashes.

They discovered the chemicals used to create GM crops were absorbed in the body, causing an allergic reaction. The scientists believe that, over time, this could result in harmful diseases.

Farmers working close to the crops, they found, also suffered from gastro-intestinal pain, vomiting, headaches, coughs and colds. The man behind the study, Professor-Terje Traavik, has called for further research to be carried out "as soon as possible".

Professor Traavik's lab in Tromso, Norway, studied blood samples of farmers from the Philippines.

"This alarming finding should serve as early warning that GM maize could be harmful to our health," he said.

Although admitting his results were only preliminary, Professor Traavik said: "We believe that waiting to report our findings through publication would not be in the public interest. My research showed that footprints of GM toxin were found in the blood samples of people living near the maize."

The fresh evidence comes as the Government is expected to give the green light for GM maize to be farmed commercially in the UK. Tony Blair is poised to give the goahead next week, after the Cabinet gave its approval yesterday.

Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett is set to tell the Commons that one form of maize, developed by Bayer, will be approved after five years of trials showed it does not harm nearby wildlife or vegetation.

But MPs on the all-party environmental audit committee will claim today that the "flawed" research should be restarted, because the ordinary crops used for comparison were sprayed with a weedkiller soon to be banned.

This is disputed by scientists involved in the research who insist, in the journal Nature, that their results still stand even if that weedkiller was not used.

Greenpeace chief scientist Doug Parr, who gave evidence to the select committee, said of Professor Traavik's findings: "This research should add to the already overwhelming evidence that GM should not get the go-ahead in the UK."

The study was carried out after hundreds of farmers in the Philippines besieged doctors complaining of skin rashes and breathing problems.

A spokesman for Monsanto, which produced the maize, said: "We have to make sure that the samples were taken properly and that the process of the analysis was based on accepted scientific standards."