Willetts attacks Europe over GM record

Science minister David Willetts has said he is urging the rest of Europe to ease restrictions on GM food and other research fields.

Speaking to The Times, Willetts said that research on nanotechnology, stem cells, some space vehicles and GM food were subject to a “great weight” of regulation in Europe, citing in particular problems for nanotechnology in France. “There are just two many 21st-century technologies that Europe is just being very slow to adopt,” he said. “One productive way forward is to have this discussion as part of a wider need for Europe to remain innovative rather than a museum of 20th-century technology.”

The Times reports that support for GM food is building in Brussels. The position of Germany, a crucial swing voter on the issue, is noted to be in flux until the general election this autumn.