§ Mr. TylerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list the(a) date of appointment, (b) terms of reference and (c) membership of the focus groups established by his Department to discuss genetically modified food. [22604]
§ Mr. RookerAlthough the Department has not set up any formal focus groups to discuss genetically modified food, it has commissioned a number of research projects to investigate consumer opinion on this subject which includead-hoc groups of this type. Consumer views are also obtained from projects conducted by others, such as the large study published by Lancaster University last year, as well as from a wide variety of other sources such as the MAFF Consumer Panel and the National Biotechnology Conference, held in March 1997, at which a number of consumer groups were represented.
In addition to these various methods for assessing public opinion, note is also taken of consumer purchasing patterns of products such as the genetically modified tomato paste which has been on sale since February 1996.