3-Food: Report of OECD conference on GM food

[GENETNL <genetnl@xs4all.be>]

----------------------------- GENET-news -----------------------------

TITLE:  GM food safety: Facts, uncertainties, and assessment
SOURCE: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
        http://www.oecd.org/subject/biotech/edinburgh.htm
DATE:   April 2000

-------------------- archive: http://www.gene.ch/ --------------------


GM food safety: Facts, uncertainties, and assessment
The OECD Edinburgh Conference on the Scientific and Health Aspects of 
Genetically Modified Foods

Chairman of OECD conference calls for international consultative 
panel on GM foods

An OECD conference in Edinburgh on the scientific and health aspects 
of genetically modified (GM) foods ended with a call from the 
conference chairman for the creation of an international consultative 
panel to address all sides of the GM debate.

"There is a case for suggesting the development of some kind of 
continuing international dialogue", Sir John Krebs, who is Professor 
of Zoology at Oxford University and the chairman designate of the 
future U.K. Food Standards Agency, told delegates at the close of the 
three-day conference.

How such a dialogue could be formalised would need to be discussed by 
governments in both the developed and the developing world, he said, 
adding that in his view its purpose would be "to inform rather than 
to make policy". He recommended, however, that such a panel, if it is 
created, should deal not only with the agricultural and food aspects 
of biotechnology but also with a range of other issues including 
trade, economic development, and environmental and ethical questions. 
It should take science as its starting point but build on work 
already being done in other fora. "If such an international 
discussion did go forward, it would have to be based on science," Sir 
John declared. "But it has to be science plus the broader issues of 
economic development, trade and other concerns that we have heard 
here."

Commenting on the suggestion, the Secretary General of the OECD, 
Donald J. Johnston, said he agreed that it is "an idea that we should 
take a hard look at." Any decision would be up to governments, he 
noted, but he added that the OECD would be well placed to facilitate 
such an international dialogue, as it already does in other areas 
ranging from sustainable development to electronic commerce.

The Edinburgh conference -- titled GM Food Safety: Facts, 
Uncertainties and Assessment (28 February-1 March) -- brought 
together 400 participants from more than 40 countries representing 
governments, industry and civil society organisations, including 
Greenpeace International, Friends of the Earth and GeneWatch. Hosted 
by the U.K. government, the conference forms part of an ongoing 
programme of work at the OECD on biotechnology. Its conclusions will 
serve as input into a report that the OECD will submit to the Group 
of Eight industrial countries for their summit at Okinawa, Japan, in 
July 2000.

This follows a request from the G8 leaders at their summit in Cologne 
in June 1999 that the OECD "undertake a study of the implications of 
biotechnology and other aspects of food safety," and an earlier 
endorsement of the OECDÕs biotechnology programme by OECD ministers 
in May 1999.

In a draft summary, the two rapporteurs of the conference Ð Dr. Peter 
Tindemans, a Dutch scientific consultant to governments, 
international organisations, and other public and private bodies, and 
Iain Gillespie, a British civil servant currently working at the U.K. 
Department of Health Ð said its purpose had been to seek common 
ground on whether and how applications of GM technologies in the food 
and crops sector serve the needs of society. They added that the 
conference also scrutinised critically whether the systems in place 
for the assessment of the risks and benefits of GM food are 
considered trustworthy by governments, industry, scientists, social 
interest groups and regulatory agencies.

The rapporteurs identified a number of points on which they said 
there was general agreement among the majority of the participants. 
These, they said, included the need for a more open, transparent and 
inclusive debate and for openness and transparency in the policy 
process, as well as an acknowledgment that there is potential benefit 
to be gained from GM technology. In addition, they noted, many 
consumers eat GM foods and no significant effects have yet been 
detected on human health.

The rapporteurs added, however, that on many issues there continued 
to be opposing views. Some participants, they observed, regard human 
health aspects of GM foods as inseparable from wider issues, such as 
the impact on the environment, trade and socio-economic factors and 
belief systems. There was also disagreement on whether genetic 
modification is part of a continuum in the development of tools for 
plant breeding, or a fundamental change in the way new crops are 
produced, necessitating new ways of assessing food safety.

A further point of contention concerned the issue of whether 
individual countries should be allowed to develop GM technology for 
food production according to their own needs, or whether there should 
be a global moratorium on GM crops. In addition, there was a lack of 
complete agreement on such issues as the mandatory labeling of GM 
foods, the usefulness of feeding trials in animals of GM foods and on 
the process of assessing consumer concerns. Finally, a need for 
further work was identified in relation to the potential long-term 
effects of GM food on human health, worker safety and the environment.



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