GM liability Bill launched in UK

On 24 June, Alan Simpson MP presented his Genetically Modified Food Safety and Producer Liability Bill to the UK House of Commons.

Mr Simpson hopes the Bill will make both the companies releasing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and their directors, personally, legally liable, without proving fault, for damage caused by the release. The only defences will be an exceptional ‘act of God’, or for those directors who can prove that they did everything in their power to prevent the release.
    Liability extends to environmental damage, and the court can take into account company profits and directors’ salaries in deciding the damages they should pay.
    The Bill places the burden of proof on the companies and directors, not the victims, and ensures that victims do not lose out simply because they cannot prove that any specific company caused the damage.
    If this proposed legislation makes it onto the statute books, biotechnology companies will have to take out insurance policies against their liability to pay compensation.

Genetically Modified Food and Producer Liability Bill,   www.parliament.uk

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No.45, September 2000, page 5]