Government minister challenges Prince Charles "Let them each organic cake" views

Phil Woolas, the British environment minister, has challenged Prince Charles's views on GM crops.

Woolas said it was "easy for those with plentiful food" to ignore third world hunger. He told The Sunday Telegraph that the government would press ahead with GM crop trials and look at moving to a more liberal regime in Britain, unless scientific evidence showed that the crops had done harm.

The newspaper says that ministers were furious about the attack which they believe risks becoming a constitutional crisis. One Labour source said the prince had “overstepped the mark”.

Mr Woolas said: “I’m grateful to Prince Charles for raising the issue. He raises some very important doubts that are held by many people. But government ministers have a responsibility to base policy on science and I do strongly believe that we have a moral responsibility to the developing world to ask the question: can GM crops help?

And Mr Woolas used careful words to challenge Prince Charles to come forward with evidence to back up his assertions that GM crops were dangerous. He said: “I don’t understand the reasoning behind the assertion that this is dangerous for climate change.”

Let them eat organic cake