LONDON -- The Channel island of Jersey has declared its agriculture free of genetic modification, halting research into a new strain of potatoes, a senior agriculture official told Reuters in a telephone interview Thursday.

"It's been done because at present there's considerable consumer resistance about GM foods," said Peter Bastian, the chief officer of the States of Jersey Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The Jersey parliament has agreed to two propositions, he said. The first was that the island would discontinue research work into a potential variant of its premium Jersey Royal potato intended to make it resistant to the potato cyst eel worm.

The second was to make the island free of growing GM crops, should any GM crops suitable for Jersey's agriculture become available.

The department would be charged with putting appropriate safeguards into place.

Bastian said that the move did not constitute a ban on the sale of genetically modified food produced elsewhere.

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