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  • From: "Wiediger, Alison" <awiediger AT HART.k12.ky.us>
  • To: 'SANET Listserv' <SANET-MG AT LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>, 'market farming' <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: GMO Education?
  • Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 10:08:11 -0600


This is long, and partially a rant, so those who don't have time, please hit
delete key now.

We (Paul and I) went to a meeting at a local ag extension office last night
that was billed as education about GMOs. The local extension office had
sent out 7000 newsletters that announced the meeting, it was in at least two
local newspapers (although we missed it) and there were 7 people in
attendance. Three of those were extension personnel, Paul and me ,at our
extension agent's invitation, and two other citizens, one farmer, one
gardener. So much for the public's awareness/interest in GMO in their food.

The presenter was a soft-spoken, attractive woman from our state's land
grant college of agriculture's Ag econ dept. What she presented was billed
as a balanced view on bio-tech food. On the surface, it was, but it had a
definite slant toward getting everyone to understand that this was a
terrific thing we should all applaud and support. She had some great facts,
and some "facts" that were not totally real. She had some great charts and
graphs. She alluded to a possible marketing problem, but only alluded to
it. She refused to discuss who funded all the research on GMO's that
"proves" them safe. When pressed on technical issues, she retreated behind
being an economist, not a scientist.

What she presented was a plausible soft-sell for GMO technology. What
bothers me is this : Why do our land grant colleges think that they have to
present an apologia for the bio-tech industry ? As Paul said afterwards, if
one of the farm equipment companies made a new piece of equipment that would
improve the life of every farmer, would the colleges spend money on a
campaign to convince everyone to buy it ? No, they'd expect the company to
do its own marketing. So why are they so intent on "marketing" GMO
technology to the public ? With our tax dollars ? Or are they being
"bought"? It's very disturbing. This is twice in the last six months that
this has happened - the last time the apologia was billed as some sort of
consumer issue, and was nothing but a GMO commercial. It's obvious to us
that there have to be substantial dollars behind something like this. She
is part of a "working group" on bio-tech that includes at least 5 or 6
members of the faculty, put together by the dean of the college (I believe
that is what she said). The bottom line is : WHY ? The answers may not be
too palatable.

Those of us who think that GMO technology needs more examination, objective
testing (not funded by the companies marketing the technology), long term
environmental evaluation, are being totally ignored - well maybe not
totally, but certainly discounted. If our extension agent (who IS great)
had not told us about the meeting, her softsell would have gone
unchallenged. I'm sure this is not an isolated incidence. Some days, we
wonder whether it is worth it to be the "voice in the wilderness", but could
we live with ourselves if we ignored it? If we are not a part of the
solution to a problem, we are part of the problem itself.

I know, too long, partially off topic, thanks for listening. I know we're
not alone - it just sometimes feels that way !

Alison Wiediger
Au Naturel Farm









Alison Wiediger, Technician
Hart County Schools
awiediger AT hart.k12.ky.us





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