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Public opinion must control GM boffins

- 09 August 1999
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09 August 1999

‘Public opinion must control GM boffins’


SCIENTISTS working on the production of genetically modified (GM) crops will have to accept the limitations and controls of public opinion, argues a contributor to the letters column of the Financial Times.

He says this is essential if public confidence and support is to be gained.

A contributor to the letters column of The Independent comments on the recent news that the government is about to vote in the European Union in favour of the commercial release of GM oilseed rape.

He says the decision “flies in the face of all the assurances of caution that have been uttered by government ministers in recent months”.

He also points out that UK regulations allow for public “comment” not “consultation” on GM crops. As he puts it: “We can write in, but they are under no obligation to take the slightest notice of what we say.”

  • The Independent 09/08/99 page 2 (Letters – Review)
  • Financial Times 09/08/99 page 14 (Letters)

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