The U.S. State Department will aggressively confront critics of
agricultural biotechnology as the United States seeks to
mitigate the effects of climate change, Jose Fernandez,
assistant secretary for the Bureau of Economic, Energy and
Business Affairs, told several hundred attendees from around the
world at the Biotechnology Industry Organization's annual
convention last week in Chicago.
Nearly 15,000 stakeholders from the medical, agricultural and
industrial sectors crowded the vast McCormick Place conference
center, where it can be a half-mile walk between meeting rooms.
Highlights of the May 3-6 meeting were keynote presentations by
former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and former
Vice President Al Gore. Lesser-known celebrities included New
Yorker writer Michael Specter, author of the book Denialism: How
Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the
Planet, and Threatens Our Lives (see also stories on Page 5).
Though he was not the first speaker at an opening afternoon
"Leadership Summit," Fernandez warmed up the crowd when he said
the State Department is ready to take on the naysayers.
Agriculture has greater potential to mitigate climate change
than either energy or transport measures, he said. "There are
more people in the world, and the world is getting warmer. Our
challenge is to produce more food with less."
Noting Turkey's recent ban on biotech food imports and India's
rejection of biotech eggplant cultivation, Fernandez said the
State Department is "working to overcome these obstacles." He
outlined a four-pronged strategy to promote biotech crops
worldwide: (1) highlighting the science; (2) confronting the
critics; (3) building alliances; and (4) anticipating and
addressing roadblocks to acceptance.