Drugs warning over banana trade

Commonwealth banana growers could be tempted to turn to the drugs trade unless the European Union fights to protect the industry they rely on, a senior Labour MP warned yesterday.

Donald Anderson, chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, expressed his fears ahead of a meeting in Brussels today at which the European Commission will study a report by the World Trade Organisation that rules against the EU's attempts to protect banana exports from former British and French colonies on the grounds that they are anti-competitive.