Brown backs biotechnology

07 September 1999

Brown backs biotechnology

AGRICULTURE minister Nick Brown offered qualified backing for the biotechnology sector at an international seed conference in Cambridge yesterday.

Mr Brown said the sector offered “great potential” for farmers and consumers through new approaches to plant breeding.

But he balanced that support by acknowledging a consumer interest in the issue and emphasised the need for governments “not to outpace public concerns”.

Ministers would continue to promote “principles of transparency and consumer choice”, he pledged.

• Financial Times 07/09/99 page 12 (News Digest)