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- CIA agents have secretly investigated the environment
minister Michael Meacher, The Telegraph can reveal.
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- Mr Meacher said last night that he was "astonished"
after the US government confirmed that the CIA keeps a file on him. Compiled
recently, it is believed to contain details of Mr Meacher's reservations
about genetically-modified foods, which Washington promotes in Europe.
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- The CIA last night refused to release details of the
contents of its file, described by another department as a "biographical
profile". Inquiries by The Telegraph have uncovered no other files
compiled by the CIA on British ministers.
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- Environment groups expressed alarm over the CIA's actions.
Charles Secrett, director of Friends of the Earth, said: "The immediate
fear is that the CIA is working hand in glove with Monsanto [the US biotechnology
company] to do anything they can to force this technology down our throats
whatever democratic politicians say. It would be dynamite if this file
has anything about Michael Meacher's track record on genetically modified
crops and foods. What business is it of the CIA's to worry about any politician's
views about biotechnology products?"
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- With the US pressing for GM products to be allowed more
freely into Britain - despite British consumers' worries - GM food is emerging
as a potential source of conflict between the two countries. President
Clinton is known to have had several conversations on the subject with
Tony Blair and US diplomatic missions abroad have been ordered to promote
the GM industry.
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- The existence of the CIA file on Mr Meacher came to light
after The Telegraph conducted inquiries using the US Freedom of Information
Act to ask whether Government agencies held any information about British
ministers. Most agencies and departments said they had nothing. A small
number of departments replied that they had drawn up conventional briefs
to prepare their own staff for visits to Washington by British ministers.
The briefs, which were drawn from published and embassy sources, were freely
disclosed to The Telegraph.
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- However, the US Environmental Protection Agency - Mr
Meacher's counterpart department - said it held a file on him but could
not disclose it because it "originated within the Central Intelligence
Agency". The EPA could not say whether it held the complete file,
or whether its holding was part of a larger CIA file. A spokesman, Lynn
Schoolfield, said: "We have a biographical profile of Mr Meacher which
was compiled by the CIA. But I don't think it's of any great concern. There's
nothing to worry about here."
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- The CIA said that it could not release Mr Meacher's file.
A spokesman said: "We never comment to the press on the contents of
files."
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- Mr Meacher said he had "no idea" why the CIA
had information on him. "I am astonished. I find it interesting, but
I have no idea what the reason might be." Mr Meacher refused to comment
on the action he may now take, but he is likely to raise the matter with
the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, and with the Cabinet Secretary,
Sir Richard Wilson.
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- Within the Government, Mr Meacher has been the most cautious
on GM crops, insisting that none should be grown commercially before trial
plantings establish whether they pose an environmental risk. He is also
reconstituting the main committee advising ministers on GM foods to reduce
the number of members with links to the biotechnology industry.
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- Mr Meacher's background is on the Labour hard Left, but
no more so than several other key figures in the Blair government. He led
Tony Benn's campaign for the Labour deputy leadership in 1981 and was a
member of the shadow cabinet before the 1997 election, but was not appointed
to the Cabinet after Labour's election victory. He is well regarded by
environmentalists.
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