ST ANNES farmers' markets and the Keep the Fylde Farming campaign could be under threat from genetically modified (GM) foods, says Friends of the Earth (FoE).

The environmental pressure group says it has written to Ken Lee, chief executive of the Fylde Borough Council, asking him to make the Fylde Gree.

FoE has asked Fylde Borough Council not to allow GM crops to be grown on any land it controls, and to adopt a Gree policy for all goods and services the council provides.

The group has also asked the council to write to the Secretary of State for agriculture pressing for legal protection for the Fylde against GM farming.

"We believe that it makes economic sense to keep our area free of GM crops at present," a FoE spokesman said.

"The levels of contamination of crops through cross-pollination and mixing after harvest have already caused serious economic damage in the USA and Canada.

"In a small area like the Fylde, we are certain there will be similar effects. These could have a serious impact on the image of the Fylde and the food produced here."

Nobody at Fylde Borough Council was available for comment.

Farmers' markets are held regularly at St Annes Pleasure Island