Planting seeds of agreement

The public debate surrounding genetically modified organisms has become increasingly polarised. As the gap widens between advocates and critics, their approach to the issues has become more emotive. The general public, caught in the crossfire, is growing more uncertain of just what to believe. The European Commission is committed to facilitating informed debate aimed at finding common ground between the various stakeholders. One such initiative is the ‘Round table on GMO safety’ which seeks to raise the voice of science in the GMO debate by establishing an ongoing discussion forum on the research results relating to both the benefits and risks. Set up in 2001, it brings together every year biosafety researchers, consumer organisations, national administrations and industry to ensure that up-to-date knowledge accompanies the safe use of GMOs. The round table’s latest meeting took place in Brussels on 24 April 2003. This section contains an archive of the documents relating to previous round tables.

GMO Round table of 24 April 2003

• Round table on research results relating to co-existence of GM and non-GM crops: programme and speakers abstracts
• Scientific and Technical Summary of the Round Table on Research Results Relating to Co-existence of GM and Non-GM Crops [ - 160 Kb]

GMO Round table of 18 April 2002

• Annoucement [ - 128 Kb]
• The BRIGHT project: Botanical and rotational implications of genetically modified herbicide tolerance [ - 112 Kb]
• European Science Foundation research Programme: Assessing the impact of genetically modified plants [ - 320 Kb]
• Herbicide tolerant Genes, Klaus Ammann MEMO/02/160 of 1^st July 2002: Questions and answers on the regulation of GMOs in the EU [ - 352 Kb]

GMO Round table of 9 October 2001

It included two workshops on the research results relating to the benefits and risks of BT maize. The first workshop addressed research on environmental safety and the second research on safety for food and feed.

• Concept paper [ - 16 Kb]
• Press release [ - 32 Kb]
• Programme [ - 16 Kb]
• Reports from Member States:
  • Austria [ - 16 Kb]
  • Finland [ - 16 Kb]
  • Italy [ - 16 Kb]
  • Portugal [ - 16 Kb]
  • The Netherlands [ - 16 Kb]
  • Sweden [ - 16 Kb]
  • United Kingdom [ - 64 Kb]
• Workshop 1: Research Results relating to benefits and risks for the environment of growing Bt maize [ - 16 Kb]
  Report, by Rapporteur Charles Kessler [ - 32 Kb]
• Workshop 2: Research results relating to benefits and risks for animal and human health of using Bt maize as animal feed or for human consumption [ - 16 Kb]
  Report, by Rapporteur Barend Verachtert [ - 32 Kb]
• EC-supported research into the safety of genetically modified organisms, a review of results
• Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Food on the safety assessment of the genetically modified maize line GA21, with tolerance to the herbicide glyphosate – expressed on 27 February 2002 [ - 240 Kb]