A public lecture by Professor Huw Jones, IBERS

Organised by Aberystwyth University and the Learned Society of Wales

The use of GMOs in agriculture divides public opinion far more than its use in other sectors.

The EU has the highest standards of risk assessment and safety for GMOs in the world. However, politicians still use ‘safety’ as a reason to block the use of approved GM crops which ironically, erodes trust in the very system that serves to maintain its safety.

This lecture will describe the science and applications of GM and place these into a broader context, both in terms of the production of medicines and additives, in terms of developments in modern plant breeding and in the global regulatory landscape. It will also highlight the scientific advances in newer technologies such as gene editing and the real risk that the EU could miss out on the benefits it could bring.

Speaker details:

Huw Jones has a global reputation in the development of cereal transformation systems and the application of biotechnology approaches to study gene function and for plant breeding. He has active research in genome editing and functional genomics but also works in the area of GMO risk assessment and regulatory policy of biotechnology. As well as his position at Aberystwyth University, he is vice-chair of the GMO panel EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) (last 9 years) and holds Honorary Professorships at the School of Biosciences, Nottingham University and at Rothamsted Research. He has held two UK Government licences to conduct non-commercial, field trials of genetically modified wheat and has published over 100 research papers, books and other articles.