US TRADE WAR LOOMS
Europe鈥檚 agriculture ministers have approved proposals to adopt the world鈥檚 strictest laws on labelling genetically modified foods. If the proposals clear a second reading in the European Parliament they will become law in the EU. The US has threatened a trade war with Europe if this happens.
The new rules will make it mandatory to label foods in which more than 0.9 per cent of the ingredients are from a GM source. Britain is opposing this on the grounds that there is no known analytical method that regulators could use to detect whether ingredients such as oils and syrups come from GM plants or not. To enforce this rule, they will have to rely on paper trails documenting each product鈥檚 pedigree, which Britain says is open to widespread fraud.
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PRESCRIBING CANNABIS
The world鈥檚 first cannabis-based medicines will be available on prescription in Britain by the end of the year, Home Office minister Robert Ainsworth says. First to appear will be oral sprays developed by GW Pharmaceuticals of Salisbury, Wiltshire. The spray combines two cannabinoids to limit the 鈥渉igh鈥� from the drug.
In clinical trials, people with multiple sclerosis found the spray extremely positive in relieving pain and muscle spasms. The preparation will require approval from the Medicines Control Agency, and the company is expected to submit its application within weeks. Herbal cannabis is sanctioned for medicinal use in some US states, and in Canada.
POLLUTION TO CONTINUE
Plans to ban discharge of radioactive technetium into the Irish Sea from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing complex in Britain have been rejected by the Environment Agency. The discharges are known to contaminate seaweed, and have been fiercely criticised by Ireland and Scandinavian countries.
Britain鈥檚 environment secretary Margaret Beckett said in December that she wanted to see technology introduced to prevent these discharges. But now New 杏吧原创 has learned that the Environment Agency鈥檚 chairman, John Harman, has told the minister the technology is 鈥渦nlikely to be successful鈥�.