THE Body Shop is to ban genetically-modified ingredients from its beauty products.

The Littlehampton-based cosmetics giant is taking a lead on the issue because of concerns about GM products by Anita and Gordon Roddick, who run the company.

They have issued instructions for alternative supplies of soya and maize oil to be found.

If the company cannot find a guaranteed GM-free source it will switch to using sunflower oil in its products.

Steve McIvor, campaigns director at the Body Shop, said today the move will not affect the price or the quality of the company's cosmetics.

The Body Shop is about to sign up to the Five Year Freeze campaign being run by environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth, the Soil Association and Greenpeace.

They are lobbying the Government to put a five-year ban on the cultivation and sale of GM organisms until more is known about their long-term effects.

Mr McIvor said the Body Shop supports the campaign, but has no intention of using GM-based products in the future anyway.

He said: "We are not scaremongering, but no one knows the long-term impact of these organisms on people's health and on the environment.

"We have actually been looking at the GM issue for a couple of years, but its really hotted up in the last few months.

"The thing about GM products is it's incredibly difficult to trace them through the supply chain.

"Most GM soya and maize oil comes from the US, and we are trying to find alternative sources from places such as Canada and Brazil.

"I don't think anyone knows enough about this, and there's a lot of uncertainty. So we have decided to take a precautionary route."

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