SNP push Highland Council on anti-GM stance

At today's (4/9/08) Full Council meeting the SNP's Councillor Maxine Smith, Cromarty Firth ward gained commitment from the Convener, Councillor Sandy Park that the Council would be actively represented at the 2nd International Non-Genetically Modified Food and Soy Summit in Brussels in October. Cllr. Park guaranteed that Highland Council would be "very involved in this summit". After the meeting Cllr. Smith welcomed the news saying,"The SNP group will continue to monitor this issue and given the farming land mass in the Highlands and Islands it is of prime importance to this region and we urgently need to find alternatives in animal feed to ensure that the quality food products used in Scotland are GM free." Data was presented at the last EU Summit challenging the doomsday scenarios from within the EU Commission regarding the availability of feed ingredients. The data found that Brazil's production is already sufficient on its own and can meet Europe's demands several times over, not to mention the substantial growing supplies which are also available from India, China and some Eastern European countries. "I would therefore like to see our Highland Council representatives playing a huge role in this debate and it is vital that the new Administration keep us fully informed every step of the way in this strategic debate,"said Cllr. Smith.