GM food protests in California

Hundreds of protesters rallied yesterday against US efforts to promote genetically modified food as agriculture and trade ministers met in California to debate the explosive issue.

Police in the state capital, Sacramento, said 11 people were arrested on the second day of protests, bringing the total number of arrests, mostly for failing to disperse and blocking traffic, to about 70.

The three-day conference, hosted by the US Department of Agriculture, comes as Washington pressures the European Union to accept GM food and prods the World Trade Organisation to help.

US negotiators in Geneva last week failed to persuade Europe to lift a ban on biotech foods, and US and European officials look set to clash over the issue at a WTO conference in Cancun, Mexico, in September.