ABSTRACT

The GM Nation? public debate, which took place during 2002-03 was, for the UK, an unprecedented experiment in large-scale public participation. It amounted to an extended process of information collection and provision, consultation and discussion, about a controversial technology: namely genetically modified (GM) crops, and related matters such as GM-derived food. The debate, which was sponsored at ‘arm’s length’ by the British government, was underwritten by a commitment by the government to take its findings into account when making a decision about the possible commercialisation of GM crops in the UK. Despite suffering from a number of imperfections, the debate was successful in generating widespread interest and considered discussion about complex matters of science and policy among relatively large numbers of the lay public. Such developments would have been unthinkable in policy circles just a decade before.