GM Crops are Good for Us: An Intelligence Squared Debate

GM Crops are Good for Us:
Professor Conrad Lichtenstein, Chair of Molecular Biology at Queen Mary, University of London; Professor Vivian Moses, a researcher in biochemistry and microbiology; and Kerry Preete, Vice President of Monsanto's U.S. Crop Production Business, spoke for the motion.

Dr. Sue Mayer, Executive Director of GeneWatch UK; The Rt Hon Michael Meacher MP; and Devinder Sharma, award-winning journalist, writer, thinker, and researcher respected for his views on food and trade policy, spoke against the motion.

The debate, held on March 22, 2004, was chaired by Peter Sissons, who, after 14 years with the BBC, has become one of the best-known faces on British TV.

Intelligence Squared is London's leading forum for live debate, holding regular debates on the crucial issues of the day and inviting the leading intellectual and political lights on the given subject to participate in them. The format of the debates is modeled on the one employed at the Oxford and Cambridge university Unions: a challenging, sharply defined motion; a team of speakers to propose the motion and a like number to oppose it; and a moderator to keep the speakers and the audience in order and force everyone to stick to the issues. After the main speeches and before summation, contributions are asked from the floor: audience participation is a key feature of the occasion, providing a rare opportunity for the public to voice their opinions and to challenge those of the speakers. A vote is taken before the debate begins and then again at the end so as to give a measure, often a very dramatic one, of the extent to which the audience has been swayed by the oratory and arguments of the speakers in the course of the evening.