David Manning, the British ambassador, patiently explained that he had reached no prior agreement with Israel on who Mr Cook should shake hands with.But the Israeli leader's purpose in manufacturing a confrontation with Mr Cook was clear. The US is on the verge of launching an initiative to revive the peace process. By opening fire on Mr Cook, who spoke warmly of the coming US proposals, Mr Netanyahu was sending a message that he will resist American pressure for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.It is by such manoeuvres that Mr Netanyahu made himself first leader of the Israeli right and then Prime Minister of Israel in 1996 But he is more than an able tactician. He said Britain had broken its promise that "there would be no contact with Palestinians in relation to that place". The incident was typical First of all, his claim was fairly demonstrably untrue. This explains the Israeli leader's explosive response when Robin Cook shook the hand of a well-known Palestinian during a visit to the Israeli settlement at Har Homa, called by Palestinians Jebel Abu Ghneim, in south- east Jerusalem. ``We want to be very open about this, to ensure we bring people along with us,'' said Nigel Poole, the company's regulatory affairs manager.. NOBODY IS quicker at spotting a tactical advantage.
"Get your retaliation in first", runs the old Ulster political adage of which Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, would approve, writes Patrick Cockburn in Jerusalem. It has applied for the necessary EU approval.To market a GMO food in Europe a company first needs approval in principle from one member state - and Zeneca has chosen Britain. That approval then applies across the EU, provided no other nations raise safety doubts which can be made to stick.Zeneca says it will insist that the labels on the cans of tomato declare the contents as a GMO. It has heard evidence that the intense heat used in peeling and then sterilising GMO tomatoes kills any seeds and effectively destroys the antibiotic resistance.Zeneca said it would sell GMO canned tomatoes in the European Union only if it was allowed to grow them on the continent too, in southern nations such as Spain. Then the collection of genes was permanently stitched into the tomato's own DNA.The Government's advisory committee of 16 experts, mostly university professors, has accepted Zeneca's argument that its canned tomatoes will be just as safe and nutritious as the ordinary kind.
The gene that confers it blocks the production of an enzyme that plays a key role in making ripe tomatoes go mushy.The gene, a synthetic copy of a normal tomato gene, was attached to some bacterial DNA including a gene conferring resistance to an antibiotic, kanamycin. The puree, labelled as coming from GMO fruit, is cheaper than ordinary kinds.The long-life Zeneca tomato, known as TGT7-F, stays firm for longer after ripening, both on the stalk and after being picked. That makes it more resistant to moulds and better suited for highly mechanised farming and food processing.The new property is passed from generation to generation through the seeds. Iceland wants to be known as the only big food retailer offering consumers a choice.The advisory committee has already considered Zeneca's application in detail, and will have a final report today. The GMO tomato, so far grown only in California, is already on sale as puree, sold by Safeway and Sainsbury, where it has taken half the market. They are found in more and more of the food on supermarket shelves. We eat 230,000 tons of them, worth some pounds 160m, a year.The Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes will consider Zeneca's bid the day after the frozen food chain Iceland announced that from 1 May it would use no GMO-derived ingredients in its ``own label'' groceries.GMO products are made by taking DNA, the hereditary chemical, from one plant, animal or micro-organism and transferring it into another.
