Biotechnology Myths?

In September 2007, Host Jon Steinman travelled to Saskatoon to attend the 55th annual CropLife Canada Conference. CropLife Canada is the trade association representing the manufacturers, developers and distributors of plant science innovations — pest control products and plant biotechnology — for use in agriculture, urban and public health settings.

The conference was titled "The Power of Partnerships - The New Bio-Economy: Accelerating Change/Achieving Prosperity". Attending the conference were executives and members of the most influential agricultural corporations in Canada, including among others; Agricore, Viterra, Cargill, Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, E.I. du Pont, Nufarm, and Syngenta. A large contingent of bureaucrats from Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada were in attendance, including two Conservative Members of Parliament (David Anderson, Carol Skelton).

Deconstructing Dinner will be featuring a number of recordings and interviews compiled at the conference, and will bring on panels of guests to respond to the messages coming out of Canada's conventional agriculture sector.

On this broadcast, we listen in on segments from the Keynote Speaker Juan Enriquez. Juan's presentation was titled "As the Future Catches You: How Genomics & Other Forces are Changing your Life, Work, Health & Wealth". Joining the program to comment and challenge remarks made during this presentation will be Terry Pugh (National Farmers Union), and Jeffrey Smith (Institute for Responsible Technology).

Guests

Juan Enriquez - Chairman/CEO, Biotechonomy (Boston, MA) - Author, businessman, and academic, is recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on the economic and political impacts of life sciences. Biotechonomy LLC is a life sciences research and investment firm. He was the Founding Director of the Harvard Business School Life Sciences Project, and author of "As the Future Catches You: How Genomics & Other Forces are Changing Your Life, Work, Health & Wealth".

Terry Pugh - Executive Secretary, National Farmers Union (NFU) (Saskatoon, SK) - The NFU works on the non-partisan development of economic and social policies that will maintain the family farm as the basic food-producing unit in Canada. To help realize this goal, the NFU and its members work to create, expand, and safeguard orderly marketing and supply-management systems. NFU members believe that individual farmers must work collectively to assert their interests in an agricultural industry increasingly dominated by multi-billion-dollar corporations.

Jeffrey Smith - Executive Director, Institute for Responsible Technology (Fairfield, IA) - The IRT was founded in 2003 by Jeffrey Smith to promote the responsible use of technology and stop GM foods and crops through both grassroots and national strategies. Jeffrey is the author of "Seeds of Deception", and the recently-released "Genetic Roulette - The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods".