MINISTERS were today warned by an East Lancashire MP to pay close attention to a new report from top doctors urging a ban on foods genetically modified to resist antibiotics, because of health fears.

The British Medical Association fears that certain GM foods could render the vital drugs useless in the fight against killer diseases like meningitis.

A report from the BMA's influential Science and Education Committee called for a ban on the planting of GM foods in the UK.

And it highlights the potential dangers of antibiotic resistant foods passing that resistance on to humans, with potentially disastrous results.

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice believes that the warning should be heeded.

He said: "We have to tread very carefully on this. Ministers must pay close attention to this report. We have never been here before."

His original warnings about growth promoters were confirmed when the European Union banned their use over fears that they could cause antibiotic resistance in humans.

A spokesman for Cabinet enforcer Jack Cunningham, who co-ordinates policy on GM foods, said there was already a strict framework governing their planting in the UK, which was under review.

Ministers were satisfied that the use of genetically modified antibiotic resistant gene markers did not pose a threat to human health - and that view would be confirmed by a new report from the Government's scientific advisers, to be published soon.

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