A public talk at UC Berkeley about scientific research that questions the biotechnology industry |
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08 December 2003 ATTENTION: Reporters covering biotechnology and genetically modified foods |
Contact:
Sarah Yang, Media Relations
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WHAT
"The Pulse of Scientific Freedom in the Age of the Biotech Industry," a public conversation at the University of California, Berkeley, about attempts to suppress scientific research that questions the use of biotechnology in agricultural development. Four scientists, including two UC Berkeley professors, will discuss the challenges they have faced and the controversies that have ensued as a result of their research.
WHEN
7-9 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 10. The event will be webcast live at http://webcast.berkeley.edu/events.
WHERE
155 Dwinelle Hall, near UC Berkeley's Sather Gate
WHO
Michael Pollan, professor at UC Berkeley's School of Journalism and noted science writer, will introduce the participants. Mark Dowie, an investigative reporter and award-winning writer on technology and the environment, will moderate the event. The four participants are:
- Arpad Pusztai, consultant at Norwegian Food Sciences Institute and former principal scientific officer at the Rowett Institute in Scotland. He has studied the effects on rodents fed with genetically modified potatoes.
- John Losey, associate professor of entomology at Cornell University. Losey has studied the effects on Monarch butterflies fed with pollen from transgenically modified corn.
- Tyrone Hayes, associate professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley. He has studied the effects of the widely used pesticide, atrazine, on frogs.
- Ignacio Chapela, assistant professor of ecosystem science at UC Berkeley. Chapela has studied the spread of transgenic DNA to native Mexican corn.
DETAILS
The event is sponsored by the Knight Center for Science and Environmental Journalism at UC Berkeley's School of Journalism, the Center for Sustainable Resource Development at UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources, the Biotechnology Oral History Project at UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library, the Gene(sis) Project at the Berkeley Art Museum, and the Council for Responsible Genetics, a non-profit organization based in Massachusetts. Details of the event and participants are available online at http://nature.berkeley.edu/pulseofscience.