GM Science Review: Public Interests and Concerns

This page provided a gateway between the public debate and the science strand of the review.

GM Science Review

The interested public were given the opportunity to contribute directly to the work of the GM Science Review by submitting their views to the Forum on this website. They were also able to participate in the series of Open Meetings held in late 2002/early 2003. The Science Review Panel has been very active in responding to the issues raised by contributions - bringing lay and expert concerns to expert opinion. This was captured in the minutes and papers of Panel meetings. The series of Science Review Open Meetings provided opportunities for experts and public to enter in to public dialogue. Verbatim transcripts and science writers reports of the meetings held in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are available on this website.

The work published by Corr Willbourn on the outcome of the public debate foundation discussion workshops to assess grass roots concerns played a central role in the science review process. The three drafting groups which fed into the main Panel's deliberations worked to agreed procedures that included checking against relevant results from the Corr Willbourn work.

Open Meetings Reports

These are written by a science writer in 'penetrable' terms for the generalist.

Report from the Open Meeting on 23rd January 2003 on "GM Food Safety":
www.gmsciencedebate.org.uk/meetings/pdf/230103-report.pdf (30kb)

Report from the Open Meeting on 27th January 2003 on "Gene Flow":
www.gmsciencedebate.org.uk/meetings/pdf/270103-report.pdf (35kb)

Report from the Open Meeting on 11th March 2003 on "GM animal feed : safety implications for the food chain"
www.gmsciencedebate.org.uk/meetings/pdf/110303-report.pdf (40kb)

Report from the Open Meeting on 17 March 2003 on "GM crops: gene flow and fitness in natural and agricultural systems":
www.gmsciencedebate.org.uk/meetings/pdf/170303-report.pdf (35kb)

GM Public Debate

National GM debate, "GM Nation?"

The public debate phase of this strand of the GM Dialogue was launched on 3 June 2003, with a series of major regional conferences and many other local events taking place across the UK until mid-July. See the GM Public Debate website - www.gmnation.org.uk - for more details.

The Science Review Panel published its First Report on 21 July 2003, but reconvened in late autumn to consider comments on this report, together with the report of the GM Public Debate, "GM Nation?". In the light of these, the Panel considered whether there were any further issues to be addressed. It also looked to see whether there had been significant developments in GM science over the summer of 2003 that it should report on, and considered the results of the farm scale evaluations of GM crops. The findings were published in the Second Report on 22 January 2004. See the Publications page.

Corr Willbourn report

The foundation discussion workshops held between 14-28 November 2002 and conducted by Corr Willbourn Research and Development allowed the general public to frame the issues for the programme of debate. The Corr Willbourn work played a central role in setting the agenda of the Science Review process.

The report and questions that arose from this exercise can be viewed at:
www.gmnation.org.uk/docs/corrwillbourn.pdf

See also:
Questions arising from the Corr Willbourn Discussions workshops (25kb)

Glossary of Terms

A separate glossary of scientific and other terms used in the GM Science Review report is available (40kb).

The FAO glossary may also be useful for the specialist and generalist alike: see www.fao.org/biotech/index_glossary.asp

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