A new risk-assessment system for genetic engineering was unveiled yesterday by the royal commission on environmental pollution.
Known as Genhaz, it is a detailed set of rules for thinking all the unthinkable consequences of releasing into the environment new man-made life forms such as viruses, insects, plants and eventually animals.
Such releases are growing rapidly with the development of the biotechnology industry: there have been 28 in Britain since the first, a modified insect virus which was released as an experimental pesticide by Oxford's Institute of Virology in 1986. Nearly all have been genetically modified plants, such as potatoes and tobacco, intended to gain initial experimental knowledge.
The Genhaz system is based on a risk assessment method widely used in the chemical industry and consists of a long questionnaire to generate thinking about unexpected consequences.
Lord Lewis of Newnham, chairman of the commission, and warden of Robinson College, Cambridge, who introduced the system yesterday, said: "We believe its widespread adoption would significantly improve confidence in the safety of releases of genetically modified organisms."
