Pallab Ghosh

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Pallab Ghosh is a Science Correspondent for BBC News.

Born in Cuttack, India in 1962, he came to the United Kingdom 1963.

He has been a Science Journalist since 1984. He has won the Media Natura Environment Award and BT's Technology Journalist of the Year.

Career Highlights include interviewing Neil Armstrong, Tim Berners Lee and Stephen Hawking. His most enjoyable story was going to Chad in 2002 to cover the discovery of a 7 million year old skull of an early hominid - possibly a human ancestor. Another favourite was coverage of the failed Beagle 2 mission to Mars.

Although he enjoys good fun science stories he's been among a new breed of science journalists attempting to do more than just cheer lead science. With many developments, particularly in the biosciences, having important social, political and ethical dimensions he's tried to adopt a constructively critical approach.

In this vein Pallab has covered the human genome project, cloning and stem cell research and GM crops. He's also broken several important stories, notably Dolly the sheep having arthritis, abandonment of the construction of a primate research centre by Cambridge University because of fears of attacks from animal Rights Activists and that the UK's Ministry of Food and Farming were on the verge of slaughtering the country's entire sheep flock for fear that they had a form of BSE until it was discovered that governemnt scientists had mixed up sheep brain samples with those of cattle.

He has been head of the Association of British Science Writers and is an executive Board Member of the World Federation of Science Journalists. In thse roles he has attempted to promote a more "Kick-Ass" approach to science journalism with the introduction of national and international prizes for investigative journalism. Most other science prizes in his opinion reward propaganda.

Pallab's reporting of GM Crops has caused controversy. In 2003 he reported that farmers in India were [liking using GM cotton][1]. So much so that they were cross- breeding Monsanto's offering with their own local varieties. That's because the Monsanto variety was unsuited to the local weather conditions and had performed badly in the previous harvest. The Indian Government had already set up an expert panel that concluded that the harvest of Monsanto's GM cotton was "unfit for cultivation and should be banned. It was claimed by local manufactureres that the home produced variety was more robust and local farmers were hopeful that they'd be able to improve crop yieds without paying Monsanto's higher prices. Pallab reported, however that the home grown product if anything seemed to perform even less well.

Another report from India by Pallab was about the GM "protato"[2] - a potato genetically modified to produce increased protein.

The item reported claims by the head of the Ministry's head of Biotechnology, Dr Manju Sharma that she was "very confident" the GM potato was "expected to be approved in India within six months." This was at odds with Indian press reports that, "no request has so far been received from developers for field trials or commercialisation of GM potato and... it cannot be approved in the current year."

The key claim by the creators of the Protato was about its potential to counter malnutrition. Pallab reported skeptical views about the need for the Protato and pointed out that lentils in the form of Dahl already provided a cheap and widely accepted protein rich foodstuff . The Indian press also questioned the claims in March 2003. (GM Potato Cannot Solve Malnutrition Problems : Experts) The publicity generated by Ghosh's report has caused irritation even amongst pro-GM scientists in India. Prof. C Kameswara Rao, calls the GM potato a "dismal product" and points out that far from being approved within months the protato is "unlikely to see the light of the day in this decade."

In 2003 Pallab reported that the British Medical Association's own Science Board was reviewing the organisation's precautionary approach to GM crops and food. [3]. There was particular concern that the Zambian Government had cited the BMA's advice[4] that health risks could not be ruled out as part of the reason it had turned away much needed grain shipments during a food shortage. The BMA issued a press release the same day which stated the BBC report was "wrong" and "totally incorrect." The following year The BMA admitted it had indeed reviewed its stance on GM Crops and decided that new research suggested that GM crops posed no health risk. [5] When asked what new research had emerged in the space of a year The BMA was unable to point to any specific new finding that had caused it to change its view.

In 1999 Pallab also reported critically on Dr Arpad Pusztai's work on the possible health effects of GM potatoes. This is what Dr Pusztai had to say about Ghosh's coverage: "[he] came up to Aberdeen after the RS [Royal Society] and the Science and Technology Committee's sitting [in 1999] and he was all smiles and extremely accommodating but when the interview went out on the BBC he twisted everything out of context. So much so that I decided not to have anything more to do with the BBC." Dr Pusztai's work was also dismissed as "flawed" by an independent scientific review panel [6]

Pallab has also introduced schemes to get people from more diverse backgrounds into the higher levels of science journalism. The profession, especially in the UK, is drawn from a privileged elite. He believes that those reporting on scientific issues that increasingly have a social dimension will be better equipped if they are more representative of their community.

He began his career in the British Electronics and Computer Press before joining New Scientist as the magazine's Science News Editor. Pallab joined BBC News in 1989. He worked as a general news producer on the World at One and then went on to become a Senior Producer on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.