GM Science Review Panel - Meetings

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GM SCIENCE REVIEW PANEL
MINUTES OF THE TENTH MEETING
Monday 24 November 2003
The Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albemarle St, London W1S 4BS

THE MEETING WAS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC TO OBSERVE

Present

Members

Secretariat

Apologies

1. Apologies were received from Professors Chris Leaver and Jules Pretty.

1. Chairman's opening remarks

2. Sir David King welcomed Panel members and observers from the public to the tenth Science Review Panel meeting. Observers were invited to join the Panel for lunch.

3. The Chairman thanked all Panel members and the Secretariat, who had worked hard over the past two weeks to produce the first full draft of the Second Report. He also thanked Professor Chris Leaver for representing him and the Panel at Innogen Conference on 13 November, which had considered all three strands of the GM Dialogue.

2. Minutes and matters arising

4. The minutes of the ninth meeting were confirmed as an accurate record.

3. Draft of Second Report (Paper SRP/P26)

5. The Secretariat explained the structure of the draft Second Report, which included an Executive Summary and the following four main sections:

• The Significance of the Public Debate Report for the Science Review;
• New Published Research;
• The Farm Scale Evaluation; and
• Comments Received on the First Report.

6. There was some discussion of general structural issues. It was agreed that there should be better cross-referencing back to relevant paragraphs in the First Report (and good cross-referencing between Sections 2 and 4). It was also agreed that, throughout the report for each main issue, there needed to be clear conclusions which stated, where relevant, what the implications of recent developments were for what had been said in the First Report.

7. Panel Members then went on to discuss the draft text for each part of the Second Report.

Executive summary

8. The Executive Summary was tabled and discussed. Several Panel members agreed to contribute to a redrafted version. It was also agreed to draft an overall conclusion, based on the outcome of the entire GM Science Review and of similar brevity and style to the summary in the press release that accompanied publication of the First Report.

Section 1: The Significance of the Public Debate Report for the Science Review

9. The relevant draft text in paper SRP/P26 was discussed. The Secretariat would revise this, based on Panel members' inputs. In particular, the 'In Conclusion' section was in need of revision.

Section 2: New Published Research

10. The relevant draft text in Paper SRP/P26 was discussed. It was agreed to include comments on a further scientific paper, details of which had been tabled, by Jackson et al. entitled 'Expression profiling reveals off-target gene regulation by RNAi'. The Secretariat agreed to generally revise Section 2.

Section 3: The Farm Scale Evaluations

11. The Secretariat introduced the draft text in Paper SRP/P26, which was based on the various comments from Panel members over the past two weeks on the initial draft. This was discussed and it was agreed that the Secretariat would produce a further version for quick comment so that a statement could be submitted to the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) in time for discussion at their 4 December meeting in Edinburgh.

Section 4: Comments Received on the First Report

12. Panel members discussed the section on 'Comments Received on the First Report' in Paper SRP/P26 in some detail, including its structure. This was divided into an introduction and the following sub-sections, linked to chapters in the First Report and addressing a number of issues raised:

4.2 Comments on Chapter 4: 'How Reliable is GM Plant Breeding?';

4.3 Comments on Chapter 5: 'The Safety of Food and Animal Feed Derived from GM Crops';

4.4 Comments on Chapter 6: 'Environmental Impacts of GM Crops'; and

4.5 Comments on Chapter 7: 'Geneflow, Detection and Impact of GM Crops'.

In addition, a new section, 'Comments on the GM Science Review Process', was tabled and discussed.

13. The Secretariat agreed to recheck the comments on the First Report and draw Members' attention to any additional references not in the First Report that might merit comment, in addition to the comments already in the present draft. A Panel member agreed to check the comments received on Chapters 6 and 7 of the First Report for any further important issues that might require comment in the Second Report. Various Panel members and the Secretariat agreed to work to produce revised text for Section 4 in light of discussions.

4. Any other business

14. As the meeting progressed, it became clear that further discussion and another meeting would be needed before a final draft of the Second Report might be agreed. There was a general wish to hold the additional meeting this year and Monday 22 December (starting at 10.15 am) was chosen as the most suitable date.

GM Science Review Secretariat
November 2003