Academic calls for new expert group

The Government should establish a new expert group to advise it on the safety and application of biotechnology, according to an academic who addressed the consultation debate on the issue of risk assessment.

A "national biotechnology committee" would be an expert group that could help the Government to make decisions on the introduction of genetically modified foods and crops, said Prof Fergal O'Gara of University College Cork. He admitted that scientists involved in the GM technologies had not done a good job of explaining their work to the public.

Prof O'Gara outlined the measures under the EU Directive 90/220/EEC which controlled the deliberate release of GM organisms. Each crop or organism was handled on a "case by case" basis, he said, and was subject to a complex risk-benefit analysis. There was a "long history" of such analyses, originally applied to emerging industrial products and now to modified foods and organisms.

Despite the perception that there were unknown risks associated with GM technology, it was now considered safer than conventional methods of plant breeding.

The precautionary principle was "integrated into the process" of developing new GM products, said Dr Patrick O'Reilly of Monsanto Ireland Ltd. Risk assessment procedures were invoked prior to any decision to go forward with a new crop product. It was also important, he said, to take into consideration any benefits that might arise from a product.

According to Mr Matt Moran of the Irish BioIndustry Association, Ireland's own biotech industry, including agriculture, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, is worth an estimated £13 billion annually and employs 65,400 people.