OPPONENTS on either side of the GM food debate will come face to face at a public meeting being held in the North-East.

GM Food - The Science Behind the Headlines - will discuss the benefits and risks posed by genetic modification of food and crops and aims to cut through hysteria surrounding the subject.

The meeting at the International Centre for Life in Newcastle will feature presentations by leading regional and national experts for and against GM food.

Tyneside protest group GeneNo has also been invited to attend. The group had threatened to disrupt the opening of the International Centre for Life's visitor attraction, earlier this year.

The centre aims to bring together science and technology to explore the possibilities of genetic engineering.

Dr Tom Shakespeare, who is organising the meeting on behalf of The Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Institute (PEALS), a partnership between the centre and Newcastle and Durham Universities, said: "We want to debate this issue sensitively and cast some light on it, not more heat.

"The public will be able to hear the arguments, ask questions and make up their minds on the subject of biotechnology.

"There have been a lot of scare stories about GM foods, but we need to know what the long-term effects and benefits are."

Speakers will include Professor Janet Bainbridge from the University of Teesside, who chairs the Government Advisory Committee on Novel Food and Processes.

It is responsible for reporting to Government Ministers on anything new which enters the food chain.

She has previously said that banning GM food would be a "technological disaster" and lead to job losses in the field of genetic science.

GM Food - The Science Behind the Headlines, which will include a question session, is on Saturday, July 1, from 2pm to 5.30pm.

It is in the Darwin Room, Bioscience Centre at the International Centre For Life, next to the central railway station.

To book a free place call 0191- 243 8206.