http://news.scotsman.com/inverness.cfm?id=571852002 Silent protest in GM fields Susan Woods PROTESTERS silently stood hand in hand yesterday against genetically modified food during the latest demonstration at a farm in the Black Isle. About 350 people stood in line in a field at Roskill Farm, Munlochy, among a GM crop of oil seed rape, before marching off. The protest organised by the Stand Quiet to be Heard Group, came a few days after the Prime Minister mounted a robust defence of the scientists who develop GM crops and condemned the activists who took direct action against them. It also followed an attack on the farm’s crops last Tuesday. Anthony Jackson, a member of Munlochy GM Vigil which has been camping out at Roskill Farm, said yesterday’s demonstration had been "superb". He said: "There were about 350 people standing in a line about a mile long holding hands. "There were people from all walks of life and all ages and it showed the level of public opposition to GM and GM crops." A spokesman for Northern Constabulary confirmed the protest had passed without incident. Last Thursday, however, Tony Blair, targeting the Munlochy GM vigil and those who had taken action against animal research institute, Huntingdon Life Sciences, said it was vital to stamp out the "little Britain approach" of the protesters. He said the advance of science was paramount to British interests and must not be obstructed. During Question Time in the Commons he said: "Those people who want to protest should do it lawfully. "What they should not do is frustrate research. It is vitally important that science continues - not just for Britain’s future, but for our children’s future." Last week the House of Lords’ European Committee published a report rejecting the European Commission’s proposed GM food labelling scheme. The peers concluded that GM ingredients were too difficult to detect for such a scheme to be workable and suggested the term "non-GM" for foods whose GM ingredients are less than one per cent.