Former pollution chairman calls for new green standards
06 October 1998
Former pollution chairman calls for new green standards
METHODS of determining environmental standards in the UK should be overhauled, according to Sir John Haughton, who was until recently chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution.
Sir John believes that environmental standards are too often determined by small groups of experts who judge issues on narrow, purely scientific grounds. He says it is crucial that there is more openness and transparency.
Sir John picks out the controversy over genetically modified (GM) crops as a case in point.
“The public is very concerned about it. But on the whole it is ignorant about what the effects may be, so you need a group where scientific and technical information can be imparted.”
Sir John is interviewed in the Financial Times to mark the impending publication of a report on environmental standards by the Royal Commission.
Financial Times 06/10/98 page 20