Category Archives: Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology

Luddites at the USDA Door

Agricultural Biotechnology, Communicating Science to Consumers, Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology, The Food System

Terry D. Etherton

I can imagine that you are wondering what “Luddites at the USDA Door” means?  I selected the phrase to describe a process that USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack launched on December 20, 2010 to explore the topic of “coexistence” and regulatory oversight for Roundup Ready® Alfalfa, an alfalfa variety produced using the tools of modern genetic modification (GM).  Coexistence, you ask…what does this mean?

Some background is needed… In 2006, the Center for Food Safety, a prominent Luddite group, sued USDA to stop the sale and planting of Roundup Ready® Alfalfa seeds.  The next step in this “tale” was a federal court-ordered injunction in 2007 that halted sale of Roundup Ready® Alfalfa until a review and the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) could be completed by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the USDA.  This was just released in December, 2010 and is a mere 2,468 pages, including appendices.  Imagine reading this! Continue reading Luddites at the USDA Door →

GMOs and the Dr. Oz Show – A Stampede over Science

Agricultural Biotechnology, Communicating Science to Consumers, Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology, Organic Food

Terry D. Etherton

On December 7, 2010, Dr. Pamela Ronald, a distinguished plant scientist at the University of California – Davis,  appeared as guest expert on the nationally-syndicated “Dr. Oz Show” to discuss the benefits of GMOs.  I had been contacted by the producer of the show to participate, however, I could not because of scheduling issues (they asked at the “last minute”).

My initial thought about the show was that it provided a great opportunity to present the facts about the efficacy and safety of GMOs to a large audience.  Unfortunately, what “played out” was way past disappointing.  There was unbelievable bias in how the segment was edited to produce the “final” version that overshadowed the sound scientific facts about GMOs.  I found it remarkable that much of what Dr. Ronald presented during the filming of the segment was edited “out” of the final version of the show!

As readers of  Terry Etherton Blog on Biotechnology appreciate, I am strong believe that science journalism should being practiced in an accurate and non-biased manner.  Unfortunately, there are many, many examples of inaccurate and deceptive scientific reporting.  The GMO segment on the Dr. Oz Show is a good example of how journalistic bias is conducted.  It is reprehensible to me that sound science was ignored and that the virtues of the scientific method were attacked on the Dr. Oz Show!

After watching the segment, and learning about what really occurred during the filming of the segment, I was compelled to write to the producer of the show to convey my disappointment in how the segment was produced.

The letter I e-mailed to the producer of the show, Rosalyn Menon, is presented below.  Dr. Ronald has already written a provocative blog on Tomorrow’s Table about her experience of appearing on the Dr. Oz Show.  It is a compelling read.

If you wish to watch the segment that was aired on the Dr. Oz Show, click here. Continue reading GMOs and the Dr. Oz Show – A Stampede over Science →

GMOs and Nature – One and the Same

Agricultural Biotechnology, Communicating Science to Consumers, Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology, The Food System

Terry D.Etherton

A recent post on the New York Times Freakonomics blog presented insightful information about the nonsense some in the “media” are conveying that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are “unnatural”.  The blog is a refreshing and interesting story about GMOs being natural, and that adoption of them is not going to up-heave the natural world in some mysterious manner.  Continue reading GMOs and Nature – One and the Same →

Natural Eggs – An Award Winning Play on Words

Communicating Science to Consumers, Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology, The Food System

Terry D. Etherton

Recently, I was in upstate New York and drove by a farm that had a sign out front at the end of the lane that read “Natural Eggs for Sale”.   The sign was appropriate for the message since the wood used for the sign looked to be about 50 years old.  My first inclination was to pull into the lane and see if they had any other “types” of eggs for sale especially since “natural” eggs are so common!  However, I didn’t do that. Continue reading Natural Eggs – An Award Winning Play on Words →

How to Feed a Hungry World

Agricultural Biotechnology, Communicating Science to Consumers, Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology, The Food System

Terry D. Etherton

As readers of Terry Etherton Blog on Biotechnology appreciate, I have written a great deal about the looming World population growth, and the challenges we will confront in feeding the World’s population over the next 40 years.

Recently, the scientific journal, Nature, published an excellent series of articles about this topic (July 29 issue).  This is noteworthy because Nature is the preeminent scientific journal in the World.  It is telling that the leading life science journal in the World focused much of the July 29 issue on this topic.

In the Editorial in this issue, How to Feed a Hungry World, several important issues are presented that must be overcome if we are to produce and distribute sufficient food to feed the projected population of the World in 2050, about 10 billion people (the current World population is approximately 6.9 billion). Continue reading How to Feed a Hungry World →

Why do Journalists Use the Word “Frankenfood”? Another Example of Atrophied Logic

Agricultural Biotechnology, Communicating Science to Consumers, Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology

Terry D. Etherton

This morning, at home over breakfast, I opened the Wall Street Journal.  And, page A15 “popped” open.  What caught my attention was the article EU Extends ‘Frankenfood’ Fight, Nears Ban on Farm-Animal Clones.  The purpose of the story was to convey that the European Union (EU) had moved a big step closer toward a ban on cloning farm animals and a prohibition of imports of cloned livestock and their meat and milk.

The EU decision is silly, and is not based on a shred of scientific evidence.  I have written previously about the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conclusion that “….the available data has not identified any food consumption risks or subtle hazards in healthy clones of cattle, swine, or goats.”  The “key” take-home message is that cloning is safe. Continue reading Why do Journalists Use the Word “Frankenfood”? Another Example of Atrophied Logic →

Transgenic Salmon – A Fascinating Fish Story

Agricultural Biotechnology, Communicating Science to Consumers, Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology, The Food System

Terry D. Etherton


Notice anything different between the two salmon in the image above?  The salmon are the same age–the difference is the larger fish is transgenic, and has a much faster growth rate, which is due to the presence the Chinook growth hormone gene (more about this later)!

For 15 years, the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at FDA has been evaluating reams of data about the safety and efficacy of transgenic salmon produced by AquaBounty Technologies, Incorporated, located in Waltham, MA.  You might wonder why so long?  Especially when, in my opinion, it is clear there are no significant questions of human food safety surrounding the food from fish grown with AquAdvantage salmon eggs, nor are there any question of material difference between fish grown from genetically enhanced salmon eggs and conventionally bred and born salmon, or between farm-raised salmon and those sold as “wild-caught” fish. Continue reading Transgenic Salmon – A Fascinating Fish Story →

Math Lessons for Locavores

Communicating Science to Consumers, Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology, The Food System

Op-Ed Contributor
New York Times

By Stephen Budiansky
Published: August 19, 2010

IT’S 42 steps from my back door to the garden that keeps my family supplied nine months of the year with a modest cornucopia of lettuce, beets, spinach, beans, tomatoes, basil, corn, squash, brussels sprouts, the occasional celeriac and, once when I was feeling particularly energetic, a couple of small but undeniable artichokes. You’ll get no argument from me about the pleasures and advantages to the palate and the spirit of eating what’s local, fresh and in season.

But the local food movement now threatens to devolve into another one of those self-indulgent — and self-defeating — do-gooder dogmas. Arbitrary rules, without any real scientific basis, are repeated as gospel by “locavores,” celebrity chefs and mainstream environmental organizations. Words like “sustainability” and “food-miles” are thrown around without any clear understanding of the larger picture of energy and land use. Continue reading Math Lessons for Locavores →

Italian Farmer Pushes Genetically Modified Crops

Agricultural Biotechnology, Communicating Science to Consumers, Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology

By COLLEEN BARRY
Bloomberg Business Week
August 18, 2010
PORDENONE, Italy

Giorgio Fidenato has made a habit of carrying a raw ear of yellow corn and taking a hearty bite whenever a camera is in sight.

It’s a provocation. The Italian farmer’s corn is genetically modified, grown surreptitiously in fields in the northeast not far from the Austrian and Slovene borders.

“Our biggest goal is to show consumers that it is safe to eat,” said the 49-year-old advocate of what’s known as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

More activist than farmer, Fidenato’s cultivation of nearly 5 hectares, or 12 acres, of genetically modified corn is a rogue act aimed at forcing the legalization of genetically engineered crops in Italy. He waxes on about their benefits: They require fewer chemicals and produce higher yields and greater profits. Continue reading Italian Farmer Pushes Genetically Modified Crops →

Are Organic Foods Over-Hyped?

Consumer Attitudes About Biotechnology, Organic Food, The Food System

Virginia Ishler
Dairy Complex Manager
Department of Dairy and Animal Science
Penn State University

News media has a tendency to portray certain aspects of agricultural production either positively or negatively. Doug Powell, an associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University co-authored a paper on “Coverage of organic agriculture in North American newspapers: Media – linking food safety, the environment, human health and organic agriculture,” just published in the British Food Journal.

Powell examined how organic food production is portrayed in the media. The paper is based on a study Powell conducted from 1999-2004 with two colleagues at the University of Guelph in Canada, Stacey Cahill and Katija Morley. Cahill was one of Powell’s students at the time. The team explored how topics of organic food and agriculture were discussed in five North American newspapers. Using the content analysis technique, the 618 articles collected were analyzed for topic, tone and theme regarding food safety, environmental concerns and human health. Continue reading Are Organic Foods Over-Hyped? →