A: There are those who may percieve or believe that the products
haven't been tested extensively, the answer to that is yes they have.
We've had years and years of tests on the agronomic side, on the
health side on the environmental side on these products through three
government agencies that demand extensive tests so there have been
extensive tests as to the safety of these products. Another
misconception may be that these plants are radically different than
plants grown through conventional technology. With the exception of
the new trait, the Roundup-ready trait or the Bt trait for example, these
plants are essentially the same as conventional varieties and hybrids.
Those are two main misconceptions and they are profound
misconceptions. We've got this technology that addresses the traits in
terms of those needs and does nothing else, there is no other change.
Q: what are some of the applications that biotech is going to make
possible, the partnerships between farmers and other industries that
aren't traditional partnerships?
A: There's a possibility of using the corn plant as, in effect, a
factory to
produce basic elements for clothing which is a whole new market for
corn farmers, they could join their cotton brothers in the South. There
are available sources in order to help out the nutraceutical /drug
industry.
Transcript for Clip 2 -- Feed the World:
The world population since I've started this sentence has increased.
The amount of land that is available to produce food is decreasing.
What we have to do on this planet Earth is to produce more on each
acre of land in order to meet the food needs of the twenty-first century.
In my book, the only way we can do that without dramatically destroying
land that is dedicated toward forests and rainforests and land that we
love to look at is by applying biotechnology. More comments from Jerry Herrington...
Q: What are some of the public's misconceptions about GE?
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Posted March 6, 2001