The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has hit back at claims from the Soil Association and other anti-GM campaigners that its steering group for the public dialogue on food and the use of GM had been hijacked by the pro-GM lobby.
Two of the 13 members of the steering group have resigned over the past few weeks expressing their concern. Dr Helen Wallace of GeneWatch said in her resignation letter: “The process that the FSA has in mind is nothing more than a PR exercise on behalf of the GM industry. In my view, this would be a significant waste of £500,000 of taxpayers’ money.”
And last week Professor Brian Wynne resigned due to “compromised…policy process”.
However an FSA spokeswoman insisted it was “business as usual” for the steering group. “There are still 11 other members so the process is not over, not by a long chalk,” she said. “What is not definite is whether the dialogue will continue as it is being reviewed by ministers of the new government. The steering group is committed to holding a well-balanced dialogue with members of the public about the issues surrounding food produced with the aid of GM…it presumes no particular outcome. The FSA is neither pro- nor anti-GM and that remains the case.”
After Wynne’s resignation on 3 June, the Soil Association launched a campaign - GM NO - to try to get the weight of public opinion behind its cause. The association is calling on people to ask their MPs to “end the sham GM public engagement process”. It claims the FSA’s process is “rigged towards attempting to encourage the public to support GM”.
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