Department of Trade and Industry

Part of Estimates, 2007-08 – in the House of Commons at 5:00 pm on 9 July 2007.

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Photo of Ian Gibson Ian Gibson Labour, Norwich North 5:00, 9 July 2007

My answer would be that there are scientists and there are scientists. There are scientists who work for companies such as Monsanto, whom I, and, I am sure, the hon. Lady, would not trust an inch, whereas independent scientists from a research institute or university are slightly better—let us put it that way—and unlikely to mess up the data or the communication. For example, I remember John Krebs once talking about food and quite blatantly saying to John Humphrys, "I don't really know; none of us knows." That is not the kind of answer that is expected in the media, where people are told, "Say it in black and white—yes or no?" That is the Paxman-Humphrys school, which does not always go down well with the public.