Monitoring will be left to the industry. No attempt has been made to tackle the creeping commercial development of GM crops. Initial reaction to Dr Cunninghams' announcements from retailers was also negative. Both Iceland and Safeway said they would not put GM food back on the shelves. Meanwhile, a testing kit which can show whether maize and soya crops have been genetically modified has arrived in Britain.
Experts hope to widen their use to take in other crops.
They have been given a gene or genes from species with which they could not breed in nature. This gives them new properties, like resistance to pesticides or a longer shelf life. No GM crops are grown in the UK commercially, but they are in America. The Government has begun farm-scale trials. Critics like Prince Charles say it is wrong to tamper with nature.