GMO guidelines already exist

AS someone who helped organise the first public debate in Ireland on GM food/crops in 1997, I find it fascinating that 10 years on we’re still going in circles.

GM Free Ireland suggests we “need a national conversation between all stakeholders on the issue of GMOs” (October 5).

However, this occurred in 1999, when Noel Dempsey held public consultations on GMOs. The result was Mr Dempsey accepting that “it is not open to an individual EU member state to ban either field trials or the importation of genetically modified products approved at EU level” and “if Ireland operates a policy of transparency and scientific assessment with regard to genetically modified organisms, there should be no risk to health or the environment”. Mr Dempsey ignored this when he agreed a programme for Government with the Greens that would “seek to negotiate the establishment of an all-Ireland GM-free zone”.

The Government should re-examine the recommendations of its working group on modern biotechnology (2000), including that “new ways of informing the public about biotechnology, its existing and potential benefits, and the possible risks to health and the environment should be devised and deployed”.

Shane Morris

6 Coolkill

Sandyford

Dublin 18