UK prime minister backs biotech research

Prime Minister Tony Blair has promised the UK's biotech industry greater government support, pledging that the country will not be held to ransom by 'anti-science' protestors. Speaking to delegates attending the European Bioscience Conference held in London last week, Mr Blair said: 'Biotechnology is the next wave of the knowledge economy and I want Britain to become its European hub'.

The Prime Minister said that biotechnology offered massive potential economic benefits: by 2005, the European biotech market is expected to be worth $100 billion (£67 billion), he said. On the subject of genetically modified (GM) foods, he said that he had an 'open mind', and that people had legitimate concerns. But he stressed that research must be allowed to continue, even if it was sometimes controversial. He said that the government would not tolerate blackmail and physical assault by those who oppose it.

On the forthcoming embryo stem cell research vote, Mr Blair said that there could be 'more than one morally acceptable outcome'. He argued that stem cell research had the potential to improve quality of life for those suffering from disease, and there were strong ethical reasons for its going ahead.

Mr Blair's comments were criticised by Pete Riley, of the environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth, who said that the government had supported the development of GM crops against the wishes of the majority of people in the country. But the prime minister's remarks were welcomed by genetics expert Sir Walter Bodmer, who said it was important for politicians to support the view that science and technology were not to be seen as a threat.