My name is Henry Lutaaya. I am a journalist from Uganda. Though I respect the need for evidence-based decision making, I take exception to Adrian Dubock's view (Message 4) on disregarding public opinion. Although Uganda is yet to produce transgenic crops, banana and cassava being in the pipeline, our scientists say that many products have been rejected, as in not being adopted, because they don't suit people's taste - whichever way you define taste. In Uganda's case, biotech varieties that taste differently from ordinary varieties were not adopted by farmers. So public opinion is important. Henry Lutaaya The Sunrise Newspaper Kampala Uganda Tel. +256752863156 e-mail: henrylutaaya (at) googlemail.com [To contribute to this conference, send your message to [log in to unmask] For further information on this FAO Biotechnology Forum, see http://www.fao.org/biotech/biotech-forum/] ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the Biotech-Room2-L list, click the following link: https://listserv.fao.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=Biotech-Room2-L&A=1