Sir John's claim in this article to be open-minded on GM and organic food, and to be somehow holding the m

iddle ground, is laughable, as evidenced by the complete failure of the FSA under Krebs to re-examine the safety of GM foods, despite the high level of consumer concern. Indeed, he declared all existing approved GM foods safe onm his first day in the job before he had even had time to look at the evidence.

Instead, he quickly ordered a safety enquiry into organic food, which has a high level of consumer confidence. Krebs then made a high profile attack on organic food, in the words of The Times, as "an image-led fad". Dr Patrick Wall, the chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has described Krebs' views on organic food as "extreme".

Krebs, of course, has been far from alone at the FSA in terms of links to the biotech lobby. The director of the Scottish arm of the FSA is Dr George Paterson -- the former director general of Health Canada's Food Directorate. Paterson has been linked to major food safety scandals in Canada involving both fast track approval for a Monsanto GM crop and the overriding of internal government scientists' health warnings on a GM product.

How agenda driven the FSA was under Krebs is also reflected in the key role the FSA played in producing weak international guidelines on GM food allergenicity testing.
http://ngin.tripod.com/pants1.htm
http://www.gmwatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=73

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Sir John Krebs: High standards at high table
The former head of the food watchdog tells James Randerson that scientists should admit their limitations
The Guardian, February 21, 2006
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/profile/story/0,,1714013,00.html

It is hard to imagine anything less controversial than the Royal Institution's Christmas lectures. Generations of middle-class kids have been dragged away from Christmas games for some "improving" science viewing. In the process, many have doubtless kindled a fascination for the subject.

But last year was different. When the RI announced that Professor Sir John Krebs would be delivering the lectures, there were howls of dismay in some quarters. The critics objected to someone they regard as a propagandist for genetically modified food being given the podium.

"My impression is that most kids are pretty repulsed about messing about with nature and that he will have a harder time persuading them that GM food is good than he had with Mr Blair," said Lord (Peter) Melchett, director of the Soil Association.

The bile from Krebs's critics comes from his five-year stint as the first head of the Food Standards Agency, set up by the government in 2000 to protect the public interest regarding food safety. He refused to champion organic food or condemn GM food, which infuriated the campaign groups who thought the FSA should be their natural ally. Before his appointment, Krebs had been quoted as saying that opposition to GM was "shrill, often ill-informed and dogma-driven".

"I have been portrayed in the media as being pro-GM, which is actually quite untrue. I'm neither pro, nor anti," says Krebs.

He says he occupies a middle ground in favour of assessing the potential risks of GM scientifically. "Because it is quite a polarised debate, that neutral view is generally portrayed as, 'Well, if you are not against it you must be for it'. There are people who don't like that because the science goes against their belief and, therefore, they would see that as being prejudiced." He maintains there is no evidence that GM food is any worse for health than conventional equivalents.

Last October, Krebs became principal of Jesus College, Oxford. The job involves "working on a smaller canvas than at the FSA, but at a more detailed level. It is also a job that is primarily about people - students, fellows, old members, staff. It is a wonderful privilege to be able to play a role in the education and development of such talented students. I also enjoy the fact that in academia there is a greater sense of commitment to shared values than there was working in government."

He likes Jesus's strong academic record and its "tradition of innovation" - the college was among the first to go mixed and has a good reputation for attracting state-school students. "Oxford University, along with all other UK universities, is heavily under-funded, and the top-up fee is a recognition that the required additional money is not going to come from the public purse," he says. "Our challenge as a college and a university is to ensure the top-up fee is not a disincentive to able children from poorer families."

Krebs was drawn to science at an early age. "I was a keen bird-watcher as a child and found to my amazement that I could actually earn a living studying the ecology and behaviour of birds." Being the son of a Nobel prize-winning biochemist, Sir Hans Krebs, proved both a blessing and a curse. "It opened doors for me - as a schoolboy I worked with Konrad Lorenz, the Nobel prize-winning ethologist, in Bavaria. On the other hand, I used to get annoyed at being described as 'the son of Hans Krebs'."

After undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at Pembroke College, Oxford, he embarked on a successful research career in bird ecology. In 1994, he moved into science administration as the head of the Natural Environment Research Council.

He saw public protection as his core role at the FSA, which often meant going against the views of "powerful and vociferous" consumer groups. "Our job was to take a broader view than that which was reflected by one particular campaigning group."

Framing scientific advice was often difficult because different sides often distort the science to suit their case. "If you look you can always find some experts who are prepared to take a contrarian view that goes against the mainstream. I think that's very common and it's not just the industry that might selectively quote information, but also the pressure groups."

An independent review of perceptions of the FSA by Baroness Barbara Dean concluded that on the GM and organic issues, "the vast majority of people consulted felt the FSA had deviated from its normal stance of making statements based solely on scientific evidence". However, Krebs points out that this was a survey of other people's perceptions on the issue, not the FSA's actual performance.

Krebs's stance on organic food also made him enemies. The FSA says there is no evidence that organic food is better for you, either because it contains more nutrients or because pesticide residues on conventional food are harmful.

Indeed, he worries that because organic is a luxury product it may distract from easier public health gains. He cites the example of a poor mother trying to feed her children healthily on a limited budget. "My advice would be not to worry about the organic, but worry about your kids having more vegetables."

And the same applies to school meals. "I totally admire what Jamie Oliver has achieved ... but nevertheless I would say if local authorities and schools are strapped for cash, money would be better spent increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables, and meals that contain lower salt and lower fat, than specifically spending it on organic."

More surprising, perhaps, is Krebs's ambivalence to the argument that organic farming is better for the environment. His academic research has documented long- term declines in bird populations due to intensive farming. He is an advocate of sustainable agriculture, but does not necessarily think organic farming is the way to achieve it.

The FSA was set up in the wake of the BSE debacle, when public trust in government scientists had reached an all-time low. "Scientists got themselves into the wrong place," Krebs says. Rather than laying out the technical advice to ministers, they were put in the position of advocating policy while at the same time not acknowledging the uncertainties in the science.

"It's always tempting when you are an expert and you are asked for advice to come up with an answer. Sometimes actually what you should come up with is 'We simply don't know'. That, of course, is unpopular."

Curriculum vitae

Name:Sir John Krebs
Age: 60
Current job: principal of Jesus College, Oxford Previous job: head of Food Standards Agency (2000-2005)
Likes: mountains, Mozart, Sheffield United, good food and wine
Dislikes: litter, automated telephone-answering services
Married: with two daughters