Harmful Pesticides

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:59 pm on 28 February 2023.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:59, 28 February 2023

Llywydd, the National Assembly, as it was then, and the Senedd, has always taken always taken a precautionary approach to the issue of genetic modification of plants; I think we are right to do so. I think if we could be guaranteed that it would be done in the way that Sam Kurtz outlined, that would be a different matter, but we can't be guaranteed, because these are inherently and intrinsically experimental ways of interfering with the genetic make-up of plants and other substances. Our view has been that we shouldn't do that until the science is fundamentally proven to be safe. I think the Senedd made the right decision in relation to withholding legislative consent.