Bern - The Swiss yesterday rejected overwhelmingly a proposed ban on genetic tinkering with plants and animals, according to preliminary results of a referendum.
With ballots for 23 of Switzerland's 26 cantons counted, 65.4 per cent of people voted against the restriction, regional television said.
It was the first time that a country's population has been asked for its opinion on recent moves by scientists to engineer certain crops and animals. If the vote had swung the other way, the government would have been forced to block all production and use of genetically-modified animals and plants, and forbid the lodging of patents for such research as well as their results - like vaccines.