CAMPAIGNING MP Gordon Prentice is urging the Government to prevent plants genetically modified with antibiotic resistance being brought into Britain, for fear they might produce untreatable killer diseases.

The Pendle Labour backbencher spoke out after official scientists warned about the dangers of the crops which are grown in the United States, France and Spain.

The Government's Advisory Committee on Novel Foods has warned about the dangers of the plants, which could result in the antibiotic resistance crossing to humans, which could render many diseases such as meningitis untreatable.

There are two fears - one is that the resistance could be transmitted if workers breathe in dust as the crops are processed, or that it could be picked up in the gut if people ate products containing the GM crops.

The product with the resistance grown in the US is cotton, while maize with the gene in is grown in Spain and France. Microbiologist Dr John Heritage, a member of the advisory committee who has written to the American authorities expressing his worries, said: "It's a huge concern to me. While the risk is small, the consequences of an untreatable life-threatening infection spreading within the population are enormous."

Mr Prentice, who last year warned of a possible 'biological Armageddon,' because of the use of antibiotics in animal growth promoters might cause just such a problem, is very worried.

Although pleased that four of the growth promoters have now been banned by the European Union, Mr Prentice believes the latest GM crops are an alarming development.

He said: "These revelations are disturbing, I am very concerned. It is dangerous stuff.

"I am in contact with Ministers about this and will be writing to Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, urging him not to allow these plants into the country. The gates must come down on these products."

A Ministry of Agriculture spokesman said neither of these crops was grown in Britain and it was seeking to have them banned in the EU. Although the risk was small, the Government took the question of antibiotic resistance 'very seriously.'

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