Former LSN Exe Director wins PR's highest honour

Former LSN Executive Director wins PR's highest honour

The Life Sciences Network 4-year advocacy campaign to promote case-by-case assessment and approval of gene technology applications in New Zealand has been awarded the public relations professions highest honour.

Former Executive Director Francis Wevers received the Supreme Award for Excellence in Public Relations from the PR Institute of New Zealand at an awards ceremony on Friday.

Wevers also won the Sustained Public Relations Programme category.

Forty-four entries were submitted for the 2004 PRINZ Awards.

"This is fantastic recognition of the work done by our Executive Director and the Life Sciences Network as a whole to ensure Parliament adopted sensible regulations to control the use of genetic modification in New Zealand," said the Chairman of the LSN, Dr William Rolleston.

"The PR Institute is the industry's professional body. As such it sets out an exacting set of ethical guidelines which the LSN fully complied with throughout the four years of the public debate on genetic modification. To be recognized by the industries professionals and peers for the excellence of his work is a wonderful tribute to Francs Wevers and the campaign he managed for the Life Sciences Network

"New Zealand has set a world benchmark for the regulation of genetic modification following the most comprehensive consideration including the Royal Commission on GM. As a result of the work of the LSN the New Zealand Parliament adopted legislation which means we can honestly say that approved use of GM is safe," concluded Dr Rolleston.

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