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By Root 1173 0

with more general problems of overproduction caused corn prices to drop to their lowest point in ten years. As a partial remedy, the American Corn Growers Association advised its members to consider planting only conventional seeds. Wall Street analysts were well aware of this problem, seeing current events as very bad news for farmers, seed companies, and seed stocks. They predicted that premium prices would go to conventional rather than transgenic crops because “GMOs are good science but bad politics.”59 Their predictions were correct; corn acres planted in genetically modified seeds fell from 25 million in 1999 to just over 16 million in 2001. By then, more than half of the Midwest grain elevators required segregation of transgenic seeds, and 20% were offering premium prices for conventional corn or soybeans.60 In part because of objections to transgenic varieties, revenues from U.S. corn exports fell drastically from 1996 to 2000. Exports to Japan fell from $2.4 billion to $1.5 billion (a decline of 38%), to Taiwan from $960 million to $460 million (52%), and to European Union countries from $413 million to $69 million (83%).61 Despite these reactions, genetically engineered traits are widely dispersed in the environment, and transgenic ingredients pervade the food supply.

Figuring out what to do about this confusing picture preoccupies federal agencies responsible for the regulation of transgenic foods. They worry that food biotechnology will suffer the fate of nuclear power and that its potential benefits will be lost to humanity. Like public protests over early recombinant-DNA experiments, those over food biotechnology may become muted if companies produce genetically modified foods that really do make farming more efficient or benefit consumers. What cannot be predicted is the strength and persistence of public distrust or the willingness of the industry to respond to it and submit the products and marketing methods to greater scrutiny. To help the industry gain public approval, federal agencies recruit advisory organizations to bring together groups of disparate stakeholders to seek points of agreement. As a participant in several such meetings, I can attest that they require people with differing perspectives to listen to one another (itself a step forward) and to attempt to identify issues of consensus. These meetings invariably identify labeling, segregation, traceability, and government oversight as necessary first steps toward achieving public confidence. Although reaching consensus on such steps may never be possible, such meetings permit participants to discuss matters that extend beyond safety and place societal issues of trust firmly on the agenda.

The messy political debates about food biotechnology are not likely to be resolved soon without major changes in the ways the industry conducts business. Genetically engineered foods may be relatively safe by the standards of science-based approaches to risk assessment, but industry decisions have caused them to rank high on the dread-and-outrage scale. To inspire public confidence, the industry must share control of the food supply with consumers. Until people actually have some choice about whether to consume transgenic foods, there is little reason to accept them. Companies need to label the foods and keep them separate from conventional foods. They also need to make more serious efforts to ensure that transgenes do not escape into the wild. They must work with organic farmers to prevent transgenic contamination of organic crops, and they must stop using public relations to “sell” people on the idea that the products are necessary and safe. If biotechnology companies want to convince people that their foods are beneficial, they must make products that are beneficial—to consumers and to society. Finally, they must stop acting so aggressively against people who raise questions about the products, stop prosecuting small-scale “violators” of patent rights, and stop insisting that science education—important as it is—will solve the industry’s public relations