Government must address GM debate chaos say groups

2 June 2003

On the day that the Government launches its public debate on GM, eight major organisations in the UK joined forces to call on the Government to extend the debate until the end of October, to ensure that people have the chance to take part and have their views heard.

In a letter to Margaret Beckett MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, signed by Consumers' Association, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, National Federation of Women's Institutes, National Trust, UNISON, RSPB and Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, the groups re-affirmed their support for the public debate but criticised the way it has been organised. The groups also warned that the Government has failed to create sufficient opportunities for people to get involved and share their views on GM, including commercialisation in the UK.

The Government has given no guidance on how the public's views are to be fed into the overall decision about the commercialisation of GM in the UK.

• Very few meetings have been arranged at local levels.

• The background materials for people taking part in the debate are very basic and have not yet been tested with a real audience to ensure they provoke an informed discussion.

• Little guidance has been given on how the local meetings should be facilitated to ensure that people are fully involved, that their views are heard and that they are recorded accurately.

As a result of these concerns the eight groups have called on DEFRA to address this series of failings by extending the deadline of the debate until October and the publication of the final report to early 2004. This would help to improve the process and allow the evaluation of the farm scale trials to inform the views of participants.

"The public has been making its feelings known on GM for the last six years, but the Government has not been willing to listen," said Friends of the Earth Policy and Campaigns Director, Liana Stupples. "Now that they are finally inviting people to express their concerns, the Government must take this debate seriously and show that they are doing so."

"The organisation of the GM public debate can only be described as a catalogue of errors from start to finish with the Government paying mere lip service to consumer concerns," said Sheila McKechnie, Director of the Consumers' Association. "Enough is enough. Consumers deserve a genuine chance to have their views heard and it is the responsibility of Margaret Beckett's department to make sure that they get it."

"The RSPB remains concerned about the potential impact of GM technology on farmland wildlife," said Mark Avery, Director of Conservation at RSPB. "Any failure to ensure a meaningful public debate on GM will further diminish public confidence. We are encouraging our million members to participate and their views must not be ignored."

"This Public Debate should blaze a trail for Government to develop policies in ways that recognise the importance of consumer attitudes alongside and informed by good science," said Peter Nixon, Director of Conservation at the National Trust. "In particular it is vital that the outcome of field trials informs the debate."

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