To Oscar Caballero, Wednesday night's animal biotechnology forum was a dream come true.

Three years ago, the cell and molecular biology graduate student heard a presentation from the environmentalist group Greenpeace condemning genetic engineering and saying it messes with "Mother Nature's grand design."

"People who do not have the knowledge about biotechnology come out of there thinking, 'I'm never going to allow another piece of transgenic food in my mouth again,'" Caballero said. "That really brought something from the inside of me that said something has to be done."

So Caballero organized a forum, "The Impact of Biotechnology on Humanity: Advancing Science to Improve the Quality of Life," where experts in the fields of genetics, ethics and law could explain in common terms how cloning and genetic engineering works.

For more information, see Friday's edition of The State News.