Guardian, London

 Fury at Welsh minister's GM
 'cave- in'

 GM food: special report

 Geoffrey Gibbs
 Thursday March 30, 2000

 The Welsh agriculture secretary, Christine
 Gwyther, came under attack from environmental
 campaigners and opposition members of the Welsh
 assembly last night after giving approval for a
 genetically modified form of forage maize to be
 placed on the UK national seed list.

 The decision came only hours after the assembly's
 all- party agriculture and rural affairs
 committee had recommended that she should block
 the application and goes against Ms Gwyther's
 known personal wish to see Wales established as a
 GM free zone. Campaigners from Friends of the
 Earth Cymru accused her of collapsing under
 "massive pressure" from Westminster.

 Welsh approval for the herbicide-resistant
 ChardonLL seed developed by the biotech company
 Aventis has no immediate practical implications
 because the industry has agreed a moratorium on
 commercial growing of GM crops until farm scale
 trials have been evaluated in 2003.

 But opposition parties claim the decision
 represents a lost opportunity for devolved
 government in Wales to be seen to be doing
 something different.

 There is also disquiet at the way in which the
 views of an assembly committee have again been
 ignored by the executive. The Liberal Democrat
 assembly leader, Mike German, said Labour had
 blatantly ignored the will of the assembly on GM
 crops.

 Ms Gwyther, who six months ago was censured
 over her handling of the farming crisis in Wales,
 asked the committee to consider the Aventis
 application because of what she acknowledged to be
 widespread public interest. But after considering
 the committee's views and legal and professional
 advice she announced yesterday that the only
 "reasonable, legal way forward" was for the
 application to be approved.

 Friends of the Earth condemned the move as
 setting a terrible precedent. ChardonLL was the
 first GM seed to approach the market and it was
 unlikely that others now on their way would be
 looked into in as much detail.

 The Liberal Democrat leader claimed Labour was
 holding the assembly in contempt: "If Labour had
 no choice but to agree the licence then they should
 have come clean and made the decision weeks ago."