In some cases, there are already well-established procedures in place to ensure that these principles are balanced effectively, for example, in assessing applications for approval of novel food products. In other cases, the Agency will use this framework to make decisions on sharing data and funding with industry and NGO partners on a case-by-case basis.
The FSA’s Chief Scientist, Andrew Wadge, said: ‘Our policies and advice are based on an assessment of all relevant evidence. We seek to work with others to ensure we have access to a full and comprehensive evidence base. In doing so, we also need to assess the quality of data and consider how working with others might affect how people view our independence. This framework lets us do this in an open and consistent way. It’s a key piece of work and I’m really grateful to the General Advisory Committee on Science for developing it.’
