Biotech advocates realize they must win over U.S. consumers, who, unlike Europeans, have not yet expressed strong opposition to bio-engineered foods. Talk to your own child's class . . . Talk to your mother. Only one side is out there now. While protestors dumped gallons of genetically modified soybeans outside the convention center, industry spokesmen defended the technology.
Safety is foremost.
A coalition of seven leading biotech companies has recently been formed to educate consumers about the benefits of biotechnology. The Council for Biotechnology Information has begun a three-year public relations campaign of TV and print advertising and has established a Web site. The campaign will educate the public about the medical and environmental advantages that biotechnology can offer, as well as the safety of biotech products. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's new Advisory Committee on Biotechnology met in Boston in conjunction with the Bio2000 conference. I wanted a group of people who would look beyond the science and explore the effects of this new discipline wherever it might be felt.