Dartmouth symposium to explore genetically modified food crops

Posted 02/18/00

The issue of genetically modified food crops will be the topic of a public discussion forum, "Genetically Modified Food Crops: Playing God or Feeding the World?" at Dartmouth on Thursday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. in 105 Dartmouth Hall.

In 1999, more than half of the United States soybean crop and a third of the corn crop was grown from genetically engineered seeds. It is estimated that 60 percent of prepared foods in American supermarkets now contain ingredients from gene-spliced crop plants. Is this rapid genetic revolution a good thing or a bad thing? A threat to the environment or a hope for feeding the world? A danger to health or a way to imbue foods with better nutritive value? A corporate takeover of the code for all life or a boon to farmers? A fundamental goal of this forum is to present the arguments underlying opposition to, or support for, genetically modified food crops. Some of the issues to be considered include the risks and benefits of genetically modified food, environmental toxicology, and the effects on international trade.

The five panelists include Mary Lou Guerinot, a Dartmouth researcher and Professor of Biological Sciences who has taught genetics, molecular genetics and microbiology at both undergraduate and graduate levels; Roger Malkin, Chairman of Delta and Pine Land Company, the largest non-government funded cotton planting seed breeding, production and marketing company in the world; Colin Purrington, an Assistant Professor of Biology at Swarthmore College; Ellen Taggart, who serves as an Executive Director of Rural Vermont, a family farm and rural citizen advocacy group in Vermont; and Martin Teitel, who serves as an Executive Director of the Council for Responsible Genetics, a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, doctors and activists that seeks to foster public debate about social, ethical and environmental implications of the new genetic technologies.

The event is free and open to public and is sponsored by Dartmouth's Environmental Studies Program, the Department of Biological Studies, Parkinson Endowment Fund and Ethics Institute.