I am alarmed to read York is pioneering testing on genetically modified foods (Evening Press, February 25).

It is worrying to think that testing will be happening 'on our doorstep', certainly when the level of research is not in depth.

It is frightening to think that GM crops are added to convenience foods with little, or no, labelling. This means people who wish to avoid GM foods are unable to.

On the other hand, organic foods are subjected to stringent regulations.

At every stage in the manufacturing process, the origin is clearly marked.

Therefore, not only does the baker know where his flour came from, he also knows who ground the flour, where the corn came from and where the seeds were initially bought. If strict regulations are applied to organic food, surely they should be for GM foods also.

It doesn't seem long ago since your paper brought to light the siting of a BSE incinerator near York.

We should all worry about what York will have to cope with next.

Simon Hardaker,

Woodside Avenue,

Burnholme,

York.

...last week the Evening Press told us that the MAFF Sand Hutton laboratories had won a contract to explore the implications of genetically modified foods.

Now I read in the Guardian that Monsanto, the multinational company who dominated the public debate on GM foods last year, has been condemned by the Advertising Standards Authority for making "confusing, misleading, unproven and wrong" claims in its £1 million campaign.

Various organisations have highlighted the unknown consequences for our environment of releasing GM plants' pollen and seeds, never mind the dangerous social implications of the domination of food production by giant corporations.

But opposition groups do not have as much money to spend on public information as the big bio-tech companies like Monsanto.

Now we know it can't be trusted to give a balanced picture of the implications of this science, it is timely to question whether this is what we want to have working at Sand Hutton. Wouldn't we be wiser to support local organic growers, in the guaranteed assurance that we are eating safely? York's City Harvest group is actively promoting and supporting local food production, and organic growing in particular. The group is working with the council and Askham Bryan College to provide a free gardening course and free allotments for a year to people in the Tang Hall area.

Laura Potts,

York City Harvest,

Dove Street,

York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.