Catalogue description GM Science Review Website

Please see information at Divisional level.

On 31 May 2002, the Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett announced that the Government would be promoting a national dialogue on genetic modification (GM) issues.

The aims and objectives of the science review were:

• to allow the interests and concerns of the public to drive the review;
• to allow ready access to science concerning GM; and
• to allow ready access to the evidence based opinions of people and organisations on the science.

The science review was led by Professor Sir David King (the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser) working with Professor Howard Dalton (the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), with independent advice from the Food Standards Agency. An expert Science Review Panel, chaired by Professor King, reviewed and summarised the state of scientific knowledge, concerns and areas of uncertainty over GM science issues.

At the conclusion of its work, the GM Science Review Panel published a first and a supplementary second report. The first report (published on 21 July 2003) and the second report (published on 22 January 2004) were formally submitted to: Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Allan Wilson MSP at the Scottish Executive, Carwyn Jones AM at the National Assembly for Wales, and Mrs Angela Smith Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office, to help inform government's decision making on GM crops and food.