The U.S. Senate declared the week of May 14 National Biotechnology Week. For those working to improve the public’s understanding and support of agricultural and food biotechnology, this was an excellent opportunity to share information and encourage discussion about the benefits to date, and to come from this advance in our ability to grow more and better food with less impact on the environment.

Through this resolution, the Senate recognized the importance of this technology and the benefits it offers to farmers, consumers and the environment. Biotech foods can be more nutritious, better tasting, longer lasting and more resistant to disease and insects. Advances in biotechnology have already led to the development of earth-friendly crops that require less plowing, which means less soil erosion and less runoff into rivers and streams. Biotech crops can give farmers more options to control pests with more benign and in some cases less pesticide spraying.

Productivity can increase through better weed and pest control, and research is under way to improve production on marginal farmlands that suffer from, for example, water shortages or high salinity. This in turn allows more species of beneficial wild fauna and flora to flourish on and near farms and reduces the need to put more wilderness areas under the plow to feed a growing world population.

Biotechnology has already revolutionized medicine and has many proven industrial uses, such as in cheese and beer production, and offers great potential in developing a new era as biomass crops become new, renewable sources of energy and other raw materials.

Biotechnology is helping to contribute to the success of the United States as the global leader in agricultural research and trade and is creating a new generation of jobs and businesses that can help reinvigorate rural economies and local communities.

A good starting place to learn more about biotechnology is www.whybiotech.com. I am sure you are aware of the anti-biotech movement, much of which is ill-informed and utilizes scare tactics to prevent the development and use of these new technologies. The purpose of this letter is to show that these technologies are being accepted by our government and to let people know that most of the horror stories they hear about biotechnology - or the more popular name, GMO food - are nothing but false advertising by a small group of ill-informed propagandists.

Ivan Delgado
genetics graduate student