The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, described as "crazy" European Union legislation which prevents the sale of seeds from old vegetable varieties, in an interview released Wednesday.

"What could be crazier than, I think, having the kind of EU legislation which made it impossible to sell the seeds of many of these wonderful old varieties that people have developed over thousands of years?" he said.

"Hundreds of varieties have been lost -- wonderful things which our forefathers took enormous trouble to develop and which, in many cases, are resistant to all sorts of prevalent diseases."

Under EU seeds marketing directives, seeds must meet minimum quality standards and old varieties fall foul of strict testing criteria.