Dr. Mae-Wan Ho
Invited Lecture for Biotechnology seminar, Swedish International Agriculture Network Initiative 1-3 September Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm
It has been 16 years since the first genetically modified (GM) crop - Flavr Savr tomato for delayed ripening - was approved for commercial growing in the USA. It was also the year that I became involved in the debate as an academic who has taught and researched genetics for many years. Through the Third World Network, to which I became a scientific advisor, I came to realise how science itself was falling prey to corporate manipulation. In 1999, I cofounded the Institute of Science in Society with my husband Peter Saunders, a professor of Applied Mathematics, and we have been involved ever since in trying to provide accessible and independent scientific information to the public and policy makers, through our website, quarterly magazine Science in Society, and special reports on a range of topics, not just GMOs.
To return to GMOs, Flavr Savr was soon withdrawn as a failure, but agbiotech corporations like Monsanto had moved on to much bigger game.
The fully referenced lecture and power point presentation is available for download here
Article first published 13/09/10
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