WILTSHIRE County Council is the latest local authority in Britain to go GM free.

The council has banned genetically modified food from its catering and all new tenant farm agreements in the county will ensure GM crops are not grown on council land.

All six counties in the south west region have now passed policies opposing GM crops.

A spokesman for Wiltshire County Council said: "Of course we do not have control on the growing of modified crops on other land that is not ours in the county. Whether crops are grown or not lies with the Government."

The European Commission is already under pressure to allow regions and authorities to establish GM free areas if GM crops are ever allowed to be commercially grown in Europe .

Wiltshire's move has been welcomed by Swindon Friends of the Earth spokeswoman Jean Saunders.

She said: "Although we didn't know it, for the last eighteen months we have been pushing against an open door.

"We are delighted that Wiltshire County Council has taken positive action to reflect the concerns of the majority of local people, who do not want to eat GM food and do not want GM crops contaminating the countryside."

Keith Hatch, the GM Free South West campaign co-ordinator, said: "This is great news for Wiltshire and the South West as a whole. Every county in the region has now taken steps to be GM free, sending a very strong message to the government that the people of the South West want nothing to do with GM crops and the damage to the local economy and environment that they will undoubtedly cause."

Friends of the Earth Europe has launched a new website www.gmofree-europe.org to highlight the different GM-free initiatives in the European regions representing tens of millions of people.

Actions range from regions introducing local laws to ban cultivation, to public authorities lobbying both Europe and national Governments for legal protection.

Friends of the Earth's GM campaigner Clare Oxborrow said: "Local and regional authorities across Europe are increasingly taking steps to keep their food, farming and environment free from GM pollution.

"The EU must take notice, and introduce new European legislation to enable these areas to stay GM free if Europe ever makes the mistake of allowing GM crops be commercially grown."

Catherine Turnbull