Meacher calls for GM inquiry

Source: FWi 29 April 2004
By Farmers Weekly staff
http://www.fwi.co.uk/article.asp?con=14538&sec=18&hier=2

FORMER ENVIRONMENT minister Michael Meacher has called for a new, full-scale 
expert GM inquiry in the UK. 

At a special parliamentary briefing in the House of Commons on Thursday 
(April 29), Mr Meacher said that the farm-scale trials had been extremely narrow 
and that a new inquiry was needed. 

This inquiry should systematically and rigorously test the impact of GM crops 
and foodstuffs on the environment and on human health, said Mr Meacher.  Mr 
Meacher also called for a more open scientific process than what is currently 
permitted in the UK, where dissenting voices in the scientific community have 
been suppressed. 

Finally, he argued that the UK needs decision making which is not influenced 
by the biotechnology industry. 

"No scientist related to the biotechnology industry should be allowed to take 
part in advisory bodies, and the full-scale GM inquiry we need should be 
fully funded by public means," Mr Meacher said.