Britain's Prince Charles is ignoring the fact that genetically-modified crops could help some of the world's poorest countries, Environment Minister Phil Woolas claims. The MP claims the prince - who last week insisted GM products were "a gigantic experiment with nature and the whole of humanity which has gone seriously wrong" - is failing to recognise the benefits the crops could have for third-world countries. Woolas said: "I'm grateful to Prince Charles for raising the issue. He raises some very important doubts that are held by many people. But Government ministers have a responsibility to base policy on science and I do strongly believe that we have a moral responsibility to the developing world to ask the question: can GM crops help? "We see this as part of our Africa strategy. It's easy for those of us with plentiful food supplies to ignore the issue but we have a responsibility to use science to help the less well off where we can." Woolas also challenged the prince - who insisted GM products were leading to an environmental "disaster" - to find "evidence" to support his claim. He added to Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper: "I'm asking to see the evidence. If it has been a disaster then please provide the evidence. I don't understand the reasoning behind the assertion that this is dangerous for climate change."