Biofortified
===
pay to play hackademics busted
===
cited by entine at NAS
https://genera.biofortified.org/wp/
is the home of the GENetic Engineering RiskAtlas, or GENERA, which is a searchable database of peer-reviewed research on the relative risks of genetically engineered crops that includes important details at-a-glance. GENERA is a project of Biology Fortified, Inc., which is an independent tax-exempt nonprofit organization devoted to providing factual information and fostering discussion about issues in biology, with a particular emphasis on plant genetics and genetic engineering in agriculture. Find out more about the project on our About pages above, or search the Atlas below.
821 no lx pix
Meet our Experts
Board of Directors
Biology Fortified, Inc. (BFI) is managed by a Board of Directors, serving 2 year terms with no term limits. The Directors are elected during BFI’s annual meeting, and are not compensated for their role in determining the course of the organization.
Karl Haro von Mogel (2012 to present) is a geneticist with a PhD in Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics from UW-Madison with a minor in Life Sciences Communication. Karl serves as BFI’s Director of Science and Media and as Co-Executive Editor of the Biofortified Blog.
Alma Laney (2018 to present) specializes in plant viruses that are transmitted by arthropods (also known as arboviruses) that infect various plants including roses, figs, soybeans and wheat. He has a masters degree in plant pathology and a PhD in plant science from the University of Arkansas. Alma blogs as The Mad Virologist, teaching people about virology, plant pathology and plant science.
Guest Experts
The Biofortified Blog is written by a team of editors, regular contributors, and guest experts. If you would like to contribute to the Biofortified Blog through writing, editing, design, photography, or other means, contact us.
The strength of the discussions on Biofortified depend on the diversity of expertise, perspectives, and backgrounds of our contributors. Guest contributors are invited to participate in the global conversation about food and agriculture, and are not paid for their work.
The guest experts below are listed in approximately reverse order of appearance on the Biofortified Blog. These bios are necessarily brief, but their accomplishments and contributions to society are numerous. Bios were updated in December 2018.
Note that board members and guest experts do not necessarily speak for their employers or other organizations in which they do or do not take part.
Alison Bernstein is a neuroscientist who studies Parkinson’s disease, epigenetics and neurotoxicology. Her PhD is in Biology and Biomedical Sciences from Washington University. She did two postdoctoral fellowships at Emory University, receiving additional training in neurotoxicology, neuroscience and epigenetics. Alison is now an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University.
Inti Orozco is an artist and science enthusiast, regularly geeking out on space, agriculture and biotechnology.
Brittany Anderton seeks to improve the intersection of science and society by educating the next generation of responsible scientists and citizens. She has a PhD in cancer biology, studied the teaching and communication of biotechnology as a postdoctoral fellow at UC Davis, and is now the Associate Director of Research Talks at iBiology and Lecturer at CSU Sacramento.
Liv Langberg is a social worker and cognitive therapist. She has studied biology and has a diploma in agronomy. Back in the day, she tried her hand at organic agriculture, so she knows a thing or two about cow dung.
Øystein Heggdal is a Norwegian agronomist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and natural resources. He is currently working as an journalist for a Norwegian farming magazine.
Jenny Splitter is a writer based in Washington, D.C. She covers science, food, and health for outlets like Forbes, The Washington Post, Slate, New York Magazine, Parents, and Mental Floss, and serves as Story Director for the immersive experience company TBD Immersive.
Arya Mitra Sharma is Professor of Medicine and currently holds the Alberta Health Services Chair in Obesity Research and Management at the University of Alberta. He is also the Medical Director of the Alberta Health Services Obesity Program.
Chris MacDonald is an educator, speaker, and consultant in the realm of business ethics. He teaches at the Ted Rogers School of Management, at Ryerson University in Toronto, where he is Director of the Ted Rogers Leadership Centre.
Iida Ruishalme is a writer and a science communicator who holds a MSc in Biology from Sweden. She thinks nature is pretty awesome, and that it only gets more awesome the more you learn about it. She writes at Thoughtscapism.
Andrew Kniss is an Associate Professor of Weed Ecology & Management at the University of Wyoming. He has a PhD in Agronomy with a minor in Statistics. He teaches undergraduate & graduate courses including Ecology of Plant Protection and Weed Science & Technology. His research focuses on developing sustainable weed management programs in agronomic crops.
Michael Dzakovich is a PhD candidate and USDA National Needs Research Fellow at Ohio State University. He uses genomic and metabolomic tools to understand how genetic diversity influences potentially health-promoting compounds in tomatoes. He also uses animal model studies to determine how tomato consumption affects gene expression in tissues where tomato phytochemicals are deposited and metabolized.
Robin Bisson is a Senior Press Officer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College of London. He previously ran the Genetic Expert News Service, a DC-based nonprofit providing media access to scientific expertise on genetics and biotechnology news.
Daniel Norero serves as a consultant in scientific communication and writes a column in the Chilean “El Definido.” He studied biochemistry at the Catholic University of Chile and worked as a laboratory assistant in plant sciences. Currently, he is studying digital marketing and social media management. He founded “Yo Quiero transgénicos”, a citizen project to inform about GMOs, and is a Cornell Alliance for Science Fellow.
Don Gibson is a PhD student at UC, Davis. He’s a molecular biologist with specialization in plant science and experience in biotechnology startups and political organizing. Don is currently studying fundamental aspects of root development using Arabidopsis and tomato as model organisms.
Kendal Hirschi works at the Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine and is Associate Director of Research at the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center at Texas A&M. His research program centers on many biomedical issues and has published papers using bacteria, yeast, crops, zebrafish, mice, and human subjects. His research goal is to increase the nutritional content of crops, in collaboration with clinical faculty at Baylor College of Medicine. His long-term goal is to bridge the chasm between plant biology and nutritional sciences.
Nir Oksenberg is a professional science communicator for the Delta Stewardship Council, a California state agency. He fosters productive communication among scientists, the public, water managers, and policymakers. He has a PhD in human genetics from theUniversity of California, San Francisco and was a postdoctoral fellow at UC Davis studying the rice response to bacteria, flooding, and drought inPamela Ronald’s lab.
Nikolai Braun is an experienced synthetic biologist, scientific group leader, and biotech product developer. He has a PhD in biophysics from UC, Davis. He is interested in networking, business opportunities, and fun new ways to make the world a better place. Nikolai co-founded Revolution Bioengineering, the beautiful biotechnology company, and now is the leader of the micro- and molecular biology programs at Luna Innovations.
Kavin Senapathy is the co-founder of international pro-science, pro-biotech movement March Against Myths, and co-author of The Fear Babe: Shattering Vani Hari’s Glass House, a book discussing popular food misconceptions and why they proliferate in the face of mountains of evidence against them. She has a passion for refuting myths popular in the wild internet west, with topics including genomics, health, food, and biotechnology. A regular contributor to Forbes, SELF Magazine, and Grounded Parents, Kavin’s work has also appeared in Slate and other outlets.
Jeff Fountain left his career in the California wine industry to study biotechnology full-time as a student at CCSF’s Bridge to Biosciences internship program. His love of science is only matched by his dislike of pseudoscience, which led him to create Food Hunk, a popular Facebook page that parodies the anti-GMO ‘pure food’ movement.
Stephanie Gorski has a PhD in entomology from North Carolina State University. She has a strong interest in environmental sustainability and conducted research on Western corn rootworm and transgenic Bt crops. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Wiley College.
Mike Bonds is a green technology advisor for a local environmental & pest management firm based in NYC. He enjoys finding alternative approaches to traditional methodologies and also has a big respect for ants.
Layla Katiraee is a human molecular geneticist working as a development scientist in DNA sequencing. She has a PhD in human molecular genetics from the University of Toronto, and is currently studying applied bioinformatics at Penn State.
Marc Brazeau is the Chief Organizer and Editor at Food and Farm Discussion Lab, a food system think tank for people within the agriculture industry to share evidence-based solutions. With experience as a chef and restaurant owner as well as organizing unions in the agriculture space, he brings a unique perspective to the food-to-table movement.
Harold Keyser, Ph.D. is a retired soil microbiologist, volunteering with Cooperative Extension on Maui to provide education on soil fertility, nitrogen fixation in legumes, and agricultural biotechnology when not volunteering at his son’s nursery. He received degrees in plant science, ecology and soil science from UC Davis, and was a researcher and educator with USDA ARS and the University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.
Robert Sacerich has had a diverse career across multiple industries. He is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy of Science and Bioethics.
James Cooper has a PhD in organic chemistry from Ohio State University and worked for years at IBM Research, mostly in computer science. He is now a full time writer, writing articles for Examiner.com on food and food science, and working on several books.
Ariela Haro von Mogel is a Registered Dietitian. She holds degrees from the University of California-Davis in Sociology and Music and the University of Madison-Wisconsin in Nutrition Science. Ariela is particularly interested in Latino health, cultural competence, and nutrition education.
Andrew McGuire has been with Washington State University Extension since 1999. He works with farmers to implement solutions to irrigated farming challenges in the Columbia Basin. He is currently evaluating soil health measurements and developing high-frequency green manure rotations for soilborne disease control. He thinks, then writes about agriculture at the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Alexander Huszagh is a C++/Python developer with a Masters in cellular and molecular biosciences from UC, Irvine. He applies computational biology and mass spectrometry to the study of protein machines.
Sujatha Venkataramani is a Plant Biologist with extensive training in Molecular and Cell Biology, Genetics and Physiology. Her PhD in biology is from Texas Tech University. Sujatha is originally from India and has lived in the United States since 2000. She sincerely hopes that we as the plant community are able to find ways to feed every single mouth on this planet.
Rob Wallbridge is an organic farmer in Western Quebec, Canada. He is also a father, extensionist, writer, speaker, and rabble-rouser. He advocates for high-quality organic food and informed communities in agriculture and beyond.
Becca Harrison is currently pursuing her PhD in science & technology studies at Cornell University. She is particularly interested in how consumers view, communicate, and respond to technology used in food agriculture, and how such study can be used to influence effective policy, increasing accessibility of such food domestically and internationally.
Caroline Coatney is a plant breeder with experience in science communication and science policy. She has a Masters degree in plant biology from the University of Georgia.
Marco Rosaire Conrad-Rossi is a part-time writer and activist living Olympia, WA. He studied political science at the University of Illinois-Chicago and human rights at the University for Peace in San Jose, Costa Rica. He has published in the Humanist Magazine, Z Magazine, and on many blogs.
Patrick Cournoyer has a PhD in molecular and cell biology from Yale. His doctoral research investigated the molecular underpinnings of the plant immune system. During that time, he co-directed the “Biotechnology in Agriculture” seminar series with the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics. He now works to ensure the safety of food from genetically engineered plants at the US Food and Drug Administration.
Carolyn Olson raises organic corn, soybeans, field peas and small grains with her husband and their three daughters on 1,100 acres near Cottonwood, Minnesota. They also finish about 7,000 conventional hogs annually. Their farm will be recognized as a century farm this year. Carolyn is an active member of her community, serving on the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Minnesota Organic Advisory Task Force, as co-chair of the Minnesota Farm Bureau Pork Chop booth at FarmFest, and much more. Carolyn blogs at Carolyn Cares and tweets as @Westacre2CJ.
Arpita Bhattacharjya ?studies and writes about food: from school lunch to global hunger, biotechnology to cooking dinner at home, she am curious about everything. In an earlier life she was an economist, now a Mom and food policy issues advocate. She tweets as @greenfork. Her blog, Thought + Food is a thoughtful look at the journey of food from the fields and oceans to the fork.
Mike Haley is a row crop farmer and cattle rancher. His farm in Ohio has been in the family since 1907. Mike tweets as @farmerhaley and blogs at Haley Farms.
John Bowman uses genetics to understand plant diversity – within species, between species, between life stages, and across evolutionary time. His research is curiosity-driven, focusing on fundamental questions about plants, such as what did the common ancestor of all land plants look like and how did it evolve to produce all the land plants we have today? He was raised in Montana, but lives in Melbourne because it’s like San Francisco but without handguns.
Adam Merberg has a PhD in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, with a dissertation on noncommutative probability theory and operator algebras. He sometimes reads, thinks, and writes about food and agriculture issues when he’s not busy with his work.
Jonas Kathage is an agricultural economist with a focus on quantitative empirical research. Since 2013, he has been working at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Seville. His PhD in agricultural economics is from the University of Göttingen. Jonas is an expert on the socio-economics of genetically modified crops. He has also worked on plant protection, climate change mitigation, and other topics.
Brian Scott farms with his father and grandfather on 2,300 acres of land in northwest Indiana. They grow corn, soybeans, popcorn, and wheat. Brian blogs at The Farmer’s Life.
Drew L. Kershen is the Earl Sneed Centennial Professor of Law Emeritus, at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. He taught agricultural law and water law for 30+ years and retired in 2012. Beginning in 1997, he focused his writing and speaking on legal issues related to agricultural biotechnology.
Charis Cook has a PhD in Biological Sciences from Royal Holloway, University of London. She has used her scientific expertise in a variety of science communication roles, including as Senior Business Interaction Manager at the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Communication Officer for GARNet, a network to support UK plant scientists.
Cami Ryan
Rachael Ludwick lives in Seattle, Washington and works as a software developer, making an awesome product with lasers! She has interests in the sciences (agriculture, phylogeny, genetics), history, music, politics, and more.
Rebecca Nesbit is author of the popular science book ‘Is that Fish in your Tomato?’ which explores the fact and fiction of GM foods. She studied butterfly migration for her PhD, then worked for a start-up company training honeybees to detect explosives. She now works in science communication and her projects have ranged from a citizen science flying ant survey to visiting universities around the world with Nobel Laureates. In her spare time she writes fiction – she has published a novel, and many short stories.
Sophien is a senior scientist and Head of The Sainsbury Laboratory. He received his B.S. degree from Pierre and Marie Curie University, Paris, France, and his Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of California, Davis, USA. He held a faculty position at Ohio State University, USA, in the Department of Plant Pathology, Wooster campus, before joining The Sainsbury Laboratory in 2007. His recent research focuses on plant pathogenomics, filamentous pathogen effector biology and devising new approaches to breeding disease-resistant crops. Follow him on twitter @KamounLab
Eric has worked in ag biotech (Ciba-Geigy, Novartis, Cropsolution) since his PhD at Washington University in St. Louis. He is President of Two Blades Foundation and in that capacity is responsible for a research group at The Sainsbury Laboratory. His group focuses on identifying novel resistances to major crop diseases.
Depending on his mood, Luis Apiolaza is a forester, a quantitative forester, a quantitative geneticist or if he wants to sound suave and trendy – a statistical geneticist. Luis works at the School of Forestry, University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand (the land of the long white cloud, the Lord of the Rings and R). He blogs about statistics and science at Quantum Forest.
Calestous Juma is Professor of the Practice of International Development at Harvard Kennedy School and author of The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation in Africa (Oxford University Press, 2011).
Emily Willingham has a bachelor’s degree in English and a PhD in biological sciences, both from The University of Texas at Austin, with a completed postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. She blogs at The Biology Files about how science and writing about science take shape around the audience known as You. She is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to College Biology and currently working on a book about lice. Yep, “lice.” She bets you’re about to scratch your head right now.
Lúcia de Souza has a PhD in plant biochemistry from the University of Basle in Switzerland. She has extensive experience in teaching and is actively involved in biosafety, public research, and regulation initiatives. Lúcia is an ISAAA (International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications) associate.
Steve Savage has worked with various aspects of agricultural technology for more than 35 years. He has a PhD in plant pathology and his varied career included Colorado State University, DuPont, and the bio-control start-up, Mycogen. He is an independent consultant working with a wide variety of clients on topics including biological control, biotechnology, crop protection chemicals, and more. Steve writes and speaks on food and agriculture topics (Applied Mythology blog) and does a bi-weeklypodcast called POP Agriculture for the CropLife Foundation.
Bill Price has a PhD in plant science. He has worked in agricultural research for nearly 40 years and is currently a statistician in the College of Agriculture at the University of Idaho. His work includes diverse topics including but not limited to dairy science, human nutrition, weed science, and benthic microbiology.
Colby Vorland is a PhD student in nutritional science at Purdue University. He is studying the regulation of intestinal phosphorus absorption in health and chronic kidney disease. Colby has a background in dietetics and has previously worked in lipid metabolism in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
kevin-folta Kevin Foltahas studied biology and agricultural biotechnology for over thirty years. He has a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research examines the role of light in controlling plant traits, especially those relevant to agriculture. His group is known for using innovative genomics approaches to identify genes associated with fruit quality, especially flavors and aromas.
Jack Lundee is a follower of all things green and progressive. With a degree in creative writing, and a strong involvement in the green blogosphere, Jack has been producing and editing his own content concerning things like climate change, carbon emissions, green infrastructure, green space, and eco-consciousness.
Matt DiLeo has a PhD in Plant Pathology from UC, Davis. During his postdoctoral research at Boyce Thompson Institute, he researched unintentional effects of genetic engineering. Matt builds R&D teams and biotech platforms: genome editing, gene discovery, microbials, and controlled environment agriculture.
Clark Wolf is the Director of Bioethics and a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Iowa State University. He is a faculty member in the Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture and has a cortursey appointment in the Department of Political Science. He teaches and co-teaches a variety of courses, including Foundations of Sustainable Agriculture, Environmental Ethics, and Bioethics and Biotechnology. Clark gives and organizes thought-provoking talks to diverse audiences at Iowa State, including talks on biotechnology and intellectual property.
Sarah Bione-Dunn is a psychologist who conducts both clinical work and research.
James Schnable is an assistant professor and the co-founder of two start ups. His academic lab works on comparative and functional genomics as well as high throughput phenotyping of maize, sorghum, and related orphan grain crops and wild grass species. He’s interested in plants, farming, and saving the world through agriculture, the usual. James blogs at James and the Giant Corn.
Brandon Hunnicutt farms in South Central Nebraska with his dad, brother, and cousin. They raise corn, soybeans and popcorn. All their corn and soybeans contain some aspect of biotechnology in them, except for the popcorn. Brandon has been involved with defending biotechnology and promoting throughout the years and currently serves as President of the Nebraska Corn Growers Association.
Mary Mangan has a PhD in cell, molecular, and developmental biology from the University of Rochester. She co-founded OpenHelix, a company that provides awareness and training on open source genomics software tools. She has published numerous articles on biology, biotechnology, biometrics, and genomics.
Joe Ballenger is an agricultural scientist studying weed control at the University of Wyoming. He has a Masters degree in Entomology. After starting as an author with the Biofortified Blog, Joe went on to found the successful Ask an Entomologist project!
Rob Hebert is a second-year student at Georgetown Law. Before moving to DC, he lived in Brooklyn, NY.
Cody Cobb is a brand new doctor, recovering plant biologist, and photography enthusiast. He received his MD at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. Prior to medical school, he studied plant biology and plant pathology at Rutgers University.
Melinda Yerka
Raoul Adamchak is co-author of Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food”. He has grown organic crops for twenty years. He has served as a member and president of California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) and Board of Directors and inspected over one hundred organic farms for CCOF. He now works at the UC, Davis Student Farm, where he teaches organic production practices and manages a five-acre market garden.
Pamela Ronald is Professor of Plant Pathology and Chair of the Plant Genomics Program at the University of California, Davis, where she studies the role that genes play in a plant’s response to its environment. With her husband, she co-wrote Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food. Dr. Ronald was one of the co-founders of Biology Fortified.
Anastasia Bodnaris a science communicator and science policy expert with a PhD in plant genetics and sustainable agriculture from Iowa State University. Anastasia has had various risk analysis roles in US government and military service. She was one of the co-founders of Biology Fortified and previously served as BFI’s Policy Director. Anastasia’s writing with BFI is conducted in her personal capacity, and the views expressed do not represent the views of the USDA.
Frank N. Foode™ is your friendly neighborhood genetically modified organism. Check him out on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook! You can also take Frank home with you – visit our Plant Plushies page to learn more!
===
Karl Haro von Mogel, PhD – 2012 to present
Karl Haro von Mogel is a research geneticist with a PhD in Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics at UW-Madison with a minor in Life Sciences Communication. Karl serves BFI as Director of Science and Media and as Co-Executive Editor of the Biofortified Blog.
Anastasia Bodnar, PhD – 2012 to present
Anastasia Bodnar is a science communicator and policy expert with a PhD in genetics with a minor in sustainable agriculture from Iowa State University. Learn more about Anastasia at about.me. Anastasia serves BFI as Director of Policy and as Co-Executive Editor of the Biofortified Blog.
David Tribe, PhD – 2012 to present
David Tribe is an applied geneticist with a faculty position in an Australian University, teaching microbiology and food science. He is involved with helping the Australian farming community get access to choices about technology.
kevin-foltaKevin Folta, PhD – 2015 to present
Kevin Folta is the Chair of the Department of Horticulture at the University of Florida, and is well-known in our community as an accomplished scientist and communicator.
Emeritus Board Members
Pam Ronald, PhD – 2012 to present
Pam Ronald is Professor of Plant Pathology and Chair of the Plant Genomics Program at the University of California, Davis, where she studies the role that genes play in a plant’s response to its environment. With her husband, she co-wrote Tomorrow’s Table, a book about including genetic engineering into organic agricultural systems.
Biofortified Blog Authors
The Biofortified Blog is written by a team of editors, regular contributors, and guests authors. Read more about them below. If you would like to contribute to the blog, read about it here and contact us here. The strength of the discussions we hold on the blog depend on the diversity of expertise, perspectives, and backgrounds of our contributors.
Steve Savage is an agricultural scientist (plant pathology) with >30 years of experience in agricultural technology. He has worked for Colorado State University, DuPont (fungicide development), Mycogen (biocontrol development), and for the past 13 years as an independent. He also has a little vineyard in his back yard near San Diego.
Joe Ballenger is an entomology Master’s student at a university somewhere in the Southern US. In his spare time he…well, he’s a graduate student and this is pretty much his only hobby. One day far in the future, Joe hopes to be able to study insect evolution and use evolutionary biology to create better management techniques for pests of all shapes and sizes.
Cody Cobb is a first year Ph.D. student in plant biology & pathology at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He has lived his entire life previous to this point in Texas and is currently enjoying his first autumn. He feels he should mention that his earliest desktop PC was an Acer. So is his ‘mustache.’
Matt DiLeo, Ph.D. is a postdoc at the Boyce Thompson Institute, where he studies unintended side effects of genetic engineering. In his previous life, he worked in a forest pathology lab at UC Davis. He also writes at The Scientist Gardener.
Raoul Adamchak is co-author of Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food”. He has grown organic crops for twenty years. He has served as a member and president of California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) and Board of Directors and inspected over one hundred organic farms for CCOF. He now works at the UC, Davis Student Farm, where he teaches organic production practices and manages a five-acre market garden.
James Schnable is working on his PhD in Plant Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He’s interested in plants, farming, saving the world through agriculture, the usual. For more about James, see his bio or visit his blog James and the Giant Corn.
Rob Hebert is a student at Georgetown Law. Before moving to DC, he lived in Brooklyn, NY, just blocks from a bar that had over twenty-five beers on tap and thirty arcade machines that all played for a quarter. He can draw you a pretty interesting graph relating “Drinks Consumed” to “Last Score on Pac-Man.”
Melinda Yerka, Ph.D. graduated from the Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics program at UW-Madison. When she’s not growing weeds in the greenhouse for her research, she’s plucking weeds in her organic community garden plots.
Frank N. Foode™ is your friendly neighborhood genetically modified organism. When he is not going on adventures that end up in our photo album or on twitter, he keeps blog readers up-to-date on what’s happening in the Biofortified Blog Community.
==
OMG Bobbie Marie Gregg was named Miss Tennessee International in 2011, and was the 4th runner-up in the Miss International competition that year. Along the way, she became interested in food and nutrition, and decided that she wanted to become a registered dietitian. She is currently completing her internship at Lenoir-Rhyne University in western North Carolina, and we wanted to ask her some questions about how she fell in love with food.Starting today on Valentine’s Day, we are offering an exclusive photo print of Bobbie Marie with our mascot Frank N. Foode™ as part of our Kickstarter campaign, so you too can Fall in Love with Food!
pix with sash and sr cit in hosp bed
==
Anastasia Bodnar has a PhD in genetics with a minor in sustainable agriculture from Iowa State University. Her favorite produce is artichokes! Learn more about Anastasia at about.me. Disclaimer: Anastasia’s words are her own and views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of her employer(s).
Pam Ronald, Ph.D.
2012-current
Pam Ronald, PhD. Pamela Ronald is Professor of Plant Pathology and Chair of the Plant Genomics Program at theUniversity of California, Davis, where she studies the role that genes play in a plant’s response to its environment. Her research focuses on the genetics of rice. With her husband, she co-wrote Tomorrow’s Table, a book about including genetic engineering into organic agricultural systems. She writes at Science Blogs.
David Tribe, Ph.D.
2012-current
David Tribe, Ph.D. is an applied geneticist with a faculty position in an Australian University, [not names?]teaching microbiology and food science. He is involved with helping the Australian farming community get access to choices about technology. He also writes the blog, GMO Pund
===
www.biofortified.org/community/user/abodnar/
www.linkedin.com/in/geneticmaize
Washington D.C. Metro Area - Board Member of Biology Fortified, Inc.
View Anastasia Bodnar's professional profile on LinkedIn. ... Biotechnologist at USDA-APHIS; Presidential Management Fellow at National Institutes of Health ...
https://www.facebook.com/**USDA**/posts/150868141607789
blogs.usda.gov/2010/11/29/it-gets-better/
realfoodorg.wordpress.com/tag/anastasia-bodnar/
https://twitter.com/geneticmaize
https://geneticmaize.wordpress.com/tag/**usda**/
by Anastasia Bodnar - Nov 29, 2010 - Alfalfa is an awesome plant that is quite unique among field crops. It's a legume, which means it can fix nitrogen (meaning less nitrogen ...
https://geneticmaize.wordpress.com/tag/debunking/
by Anastasia Bodnar - Feb 28, 2011 - Note: This post follows Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence about Don Huber's alleged letter to the USDA that claims a never ...
geneticmaize.wordpress.com/legal/
by Anastasia Bodnar - Anastasia Bodnar ... Iowa State University, and as a research assistant under a USDA-ARS researcher. ... Brandon Bodnar provides some technical assistance.
www.monsanto.com › Feature Stories
===
Meet the plush GMO mascot, Frank N. Foode
on 28 March 2014
Meet the plush GMO mascot, Frank N. Foode
REBEKAH WILCE
PRWatch, 26 Mar 2014
Three years ago, CMD reported on Karden -- an adorable puppet used in part to convince kids that gardening with sewage sludge was a fun activity for all ages. (Karden, of course, failed to explain to the kiddos that sewage sludge extracted from city waste supplies can contain toxic and hazardous materials.)
Well, move over Karden the sludge puppet, there's a new toy in town! Frank N. Foode is "your friendly neighborhood genetically modified organism," who helps "make the science of biotechnology fun and approachable."
This ear of corn sprouted eyes, white hair, and spectacles. The "cutest corn plush" is the mascot of Biology Fortified, Inc., a new small non-profit group based in Middleton, Wisconsin that promotes genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and is responsible for the Biofortified blog.
"Few are able to resist getting their photo taken with" Frank, the group gushes -- including "the late Senator George McGovern, food writer Michael Pollan, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack," and more.
But don't worry! Frank "does not endorse products, least of all genetically engineered food products," the group claims. Just GMOs and the science of GMOs in general!
Not content to be alone in his travels around the world, getting photographed with a random assortment of academics and confused luminaries, a recent fully-funded Kickstarter campaign now makes multiple plush "lovable Frank"s -- in other forms, branching out from GMO corn to GMO papaya and the opportunity to "adopt-a-crop" and pick a new GMO design (an opportunity not taken by anyone to date) -- available to his adoring fans (all 210 backers).
And hey, Frank even tweets!
Frankly, My Dear...
According to Biology Fortified, Inc.:
"The science behind genetically engineered foods is complicated, and often difficult for people to understand. Some people who think that these foods are strange, dangerous, or monstrous call them 'frankenfoods' rather than try to understand them. At the same time many other foods that we commonly eat are themselves very strange in their own right -- often even more strange than the changes made through genetic engineering. So we named our mascot Frank N. Foode™ to make light of it all! Our hope is that this fun character can help get people interested to learn and think about the issues surrounding plant genetics and agriculture, and give people a personality who they can follow around the world."
Jonathan Latham, co-founder and executive director of the Bioscience Resource Project and editor of Independent Science News, holds degrees in crop genetics and virology. He was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison -- where Biology Fortified co-founder, Karl Haro von Mogel, is a PhD candidate. But Latham is no fan of Biology Fortified's work. Latham told CMD, "They pose as pro-science but what they really offer is uncritical parroting of corporate talking points. They also deploy classic PR tactics. Whenever a real food safety issue occurs, or whenever a critical article about biotechnology is getting attention online, they try to derail legitimate discussion with red herrings."
While there are undoubtedly those who call GMOs "frankenfoods," many critics focus on the "pesticide treadmill" that the most commonly grown and sold GMOs -- "Roundup Ready" herbicide-resistant crops and those with the pesticide Bt built in -- perpetuate, as CMD has reported. This critique appears to have only been addressed in passing by the Biofortified blog, which simply notes that the issue of pesticide proliferation also "applies to non-breeding strategies including chemical insecticides and biological control agents," a point which critics of GMOs also make, as CMD has reported.
Other GMO critics are concerned about cross-contamination with non-GMO crops and weeds, creating herbicide-resistant weeds. But the Biofortified blog addresses this concern by calling "genetic contamination" an "emotional term" and not only completely ignoring the issue of weeds becoming resistant to Roundup® glyphosate herbicide, but also ignoring the contamination of food, such as the 2000 contamination of corn with GMO StarLink™ corn that led to a huge recall of Taco Bell taco shells. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had registered the GMO corn variety for commercial use for livestock feed and industrial use only because it was judged to be "potentially allergenic . . . in human food."
Friends of Frank
In his effort to popularize GMOs, Frank and friends produced a auto-tuning video of scientist Norman Borlaug, father of the "Green Revolution," an effort during the 1940s through the 1970s to increase world food production, particularly in poor countries such as Mexico, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, through crop breeding and the increased use of fertilizer, pesticides, and irrigation. While the Green Revolution led to increased food production, many criticize it for creating social, economic, and environmental problems. The development and use of GMOs in food production has been called the "second green revolution."
Frank has some powerful friends. This video is being promoted on Twitter by CropLife International, a trade association containing all of the "Big 6" pesticide and GMO corporations -- Monsanto, BASF, Bayer, Dupont, Dow Chemical Company, and Syngenta -- some of the biggest companies in the world. CropLife America is an active member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force.
Frank is also a friend of Jon Entine, founding executive director of the Genetic Literacy Project and one of the GMO and pesticide industry's favorite PR tools. He wrote his 2011 Scared to Death: How Chemophobia Threatens Public Health for the American Council on Science and Health. ACSH requested $100,000 in funding for the book project from the GMO and pesticide corporation Syngenta as part of the company's PR campaign around its weed-killer atrazine, which was the subject of a major lawsuit, as CMD has reported. ACSH also receives regular operating support from Syngenta, which the email pitch called the organization's "lifeblood."
Frank's creator, Karl Haro von Mogel, recently met up with Entine in Puna, Hawai'ion their way to meet Dr. Dennis Gonsalves, the developer of GMO papayas. von Mogel wrote a gushing blog on his encounter with Entine "In Dennis, I had met the highest concentration of Aloha yet on the entire trip. If he were a plant, his leaves and roots exuded Aloha into the surrounding air and soil. It was infectious," before planting Frank in the papaya fields for a photo op. The two had presented together previously at a June 2013 GMO panel organized by the Cato Institute. And Entine has mentioned von Mogel in articles published in Forbes and elsewhere at least four times in recent months.
Entine's and von Mogel's primary organizations -- Genetic Literacy Project and Biology Fortified, Inc., respectively -- both claim not to accept corporate funding.
Too Early for April Fool's
The campaign to mass produce Frank the mascot is "so grotesque and over the top that it must be an April Fool's joke," says one campaigner for GMO testing and labeling. But the campaign is too early for April Fool's day, and may be too late to sway public opinion.
The American public has decided that, despite the platitudes of GMO promoters, eaters have the right to know when food contains GMOs (as an estimated 80 percent of the food supply in the United States does). The movement to require GMO labels in the United States -- as the European Union already does -- enjoyed support from 93 percent of respondents in a 2013 New York Times poll. So far in 2014, 67 GMO labeling bills have been introduced in 25 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. Additional bills are pending in California, Minnesota, Missouri, and Rhode Island; and campaigns in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, and Oregon work to put the question on the ballot for state voters.
===
The academics identified by these emails as cooperating with industry and PR firms include:
Profs. Bruce Chassy (University of Illinois) and Alan McHughen (University of California, Riverside) who worked together to destroy the credibility of Russian scientist and GMO critic Irina Ermakova. They persuaded the journal Nature Biotechnology to interview Ermakova about her research and describe it. This interview was followed by a detailed critique of her research (about which none of the authors were expert). Ermakova was neither told of the critique nor given a chance to answer it. This whole elaborate subterfuge required her to be sent a dummy proof of the article she thought she was publishing in the journal.
Prof. Calestuous Juma (Harvard University) longtime advocate of GMOs for Africa.
Prof. Wayne Parrott (University of Georgia) a serial intervener in academic GMO debates.
Prof. RogerBeachy (Danforth Center, formerly USAID). Beachy is the principal living exponent of a classic biotech strategy: to respond rapidly to a report or publication critical of some aspect of the technology with a multi-author “rebuttal” [Disclaimer: the inaugural report of the Bioscience Resource Project (on the genome damage caused by genetic engineering) was met, even before formal publication, with both barrels from 23 professors, including Roger Beachy (Altpeter et al 2005)].(2)
Prof. Ron Herring (Cornell) who has helped to promote GMOs in India and fought to defuse the farmer suicide debate in India.
Prof. CS Prakash (Tuskegee University) is the convener of the influential listserv AgBioWorld. AgBioWorld was the all-important conduit for a petition signed by three thousand scientists calling for the retraction of a 2001 scientific paper showing GMO contamination of Mexican corn (Quist and Chapela 2001). As detailed in an article called The Fake Persuaders, the scientists who initiated the petition, and made inaccurate and inflammatory statements about the authors, were not real people. However, their emails could be traced back to servers belonging to Monsanto or Bivings, a PR company that was working with Monsanto at the time.
Prof. Nina Fedoroff (Penn State) is the most prominent of all of the scientists looped into all of the Times emails. Nina Fedoroff was the 2011-2012 President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The AAAS is the foremost scientific body in the US. During her Presidency, Fedoroff, who is also a contributor to the NY Times, used her position to coordinate and sign a letter on behalf of 60 prominent scientists. This letter was sent to EPA as part of an effort to defeat a pesticide regulatory effort. The real coordinator was Monsanto but Fedoroff participated in phone conferences and email exchanges with them (including with the prominent lobbyist Stanley Abramson) and gets credit in the emails for “moving the ball far down the field”. Yet Nina Fedoroff is not once named in the main article and nowhere at all is her position noted.
So the story that academia’s most vocal GMO defenders, and some of its most prominent scientists, are copied into these emails is missing. The focus on individuals like Folta occludes a demonstration, for the first time ever, of long-suspected and intricate coordination and cooperation among them.
Also looped in to various of the emails are supposedly independent individuals and organisations who speak in favour of biotechnology, self-reportedly out of personal passion. These include Dr Steve Savage, Karl Haro von Mogel of Biofortified, Mischa Popoff (of the Heartland Institute) and Jon Entine (then affiliated with George Mason University and now head of the Genetic Literacy Project and a Forbes Magazine columnist). All are revealed, by the emails but not the article, as biotech insiders
==
--
Savage and Associates
Previous
Cirrus partners, The Context Network, Mycogen
Education
University of California, Davis
Websites
Blog
500+
connections
Join LinkedIn and access Steven’s full profile. It’s free!
As a LinkedIn member, you’ll join 400 million other professionals who are sharing connections, ideas, and opportunities.
See who you know in common
Get introduced
Contact Steven directly
View Steven's Full Profile
Experience
Principal
Savage and Associates
September 1996 – Present (19 years 4 months)
I am a private consultant to the ag-technology industry, grower groups, and investors. I also blog and speak about agricultural issues
Partner
Cirrus partners
1996 – 2011 (15 years)
Consultant
The Context Network
1996 – 2005 (9 years)
Bioherbicide Manager
Mycogen
1990 – 1996 (6 years)
Supervised lab studies and external field studies. Filed patents. Interfaced with the fermentation and formulation groups
Agricultural products
DuPont
1983 – 1989 (6 years)
==
The day I unwittingly became a pro-science activist
by Jeff Fountain | posted in: Commentary | 101
fun facts
What kinds of Fun ‘Facts’ Fester in yonder tent? Credit: Jeff Fountain
Early this September I attended the National Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa. It’s an event that’s centered around the pure food movement, heirloom vegetables, and anti-GMO activism. The speakers included Joseph Mercola, Jeffrey Smith, Andrew Kimbrell, and my personal favorite pseudoscientist, Vani Hari, a.k.a. the Food Babe. For those unfamiliar with Food Babe, she is an anti-GMO, pro-organic public figure who attacks food and agricultural companies for what are essentially harmless practices. The reason I mention her is because she inspired me to start my own Facebook parody page called Food Hunk, which is what sort of drove my foray into ‘activism’. Food Hunk is to Food Babe, what Stephen Colbert is to Bill O’Reilly. I joined a community of other wonderful Food Babe critics such as Chow Babe and Science Babe, with my page being a bit of a broader commentary on fallacious ways of thinking, such as the all-too-common naturalistic fallacy.
I’ve been interested in science all of my life, but only in the last few years have I become more involved with skepticism and the idea that you don’t need to be a scientist to think like a scientist. As usually proliferated on social media, a constant barrage of anti-GMO fear mongering flooded my Facebook feed on a daily basis. I started trying to counter these claims with sound science. Because many of those spreading erroneous info were good friends, I felt compelled to actually know what I was talking about and inform them, instead of simply calling them out their ignorance. I became active in various online forums devoted to exploring the issue of genetic engineering, and found myself learning from some of the best science communicators on the topic. Upon realizing that I couldn’t learn enough, I decided to go back to school and learn about biotechnology. I’d recently left my fifteen-year career working in the wine industry and was exploring my passion for science. My wife found a certificate program at CCSF called Bridge to Biosciences where I am enrolled today. I am nowhere near as educated as many of the people I correspond with about science, but I’m always trying to learn and never pretend to wield knowledge I don’t have. In my opinion, this is one of the most important components of skepticism. If more people only stopped pretending to know what they do not know, we wouldn’t see the blatant misinformation that so predominantly surrounds the topic of GMOs.
Recently I was in a GMO enthusiast forum, when I noticed a post from Karl at Biology Fortified. He mentioned the Heirloom Expo and was asking if anyone from the Bay Area was going to attend. Santa Rosa is only about an hour from where I live, and so after realizing I didn’t really have anything planned for the day I thought, “How could I possibly pass up the opportunity to introduce Food Hunk to Food Babe?” I put on my ‘I love GMOs’ t-shirt, (carefully concealed under my sweatshirt) and hit the road to Santa Rosa.
Zen Honeycutt at the Moms Across America booth. Credit: Jeff Fountain
My modest intention was to snap a few pictures and possibly end up with a nice photo of the Hunk and the Babe for my Facebook page. At this point I was still sporting a hoodie over my pro-science t-shirt. I had an ongoing line of communication with my pro-GMO internet collaborators, joking that I felt like Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, or a democrat at a Tea Party rally. I truly began to feel alone, particularly as I walked past the booths of anti-biotechnology organizations like GMO Inside and Moms Across America. They were handing out flyers damning GMOs as if they were trying to rid the world of malaria, and here I was secretly concealing my ‘I Love Malaria’ t-shirt. Thankfully I felt like I had all 7000 member of the Facebook group (GMOLOL) cheering me on and offering suggestions for questions to ask the speakers. My initial intention of possibly snapping a few photos to use as gags, started to turn into a feeling of not wanting to let my compadres down. I decided to try and pose some questions to Vani Hari.
I sat down near the front of the stage so I could easily pose a question if given the chance. I had my question planned out. The Food Babe’s most recent scare-campaign was directed at Starbucks Coffee for their Pumpkin Spice Latte. In her ‘investigation’ she cites the International Agency for Research on Cancer as having grouped one of the chemicals found in caramel color (used in the beverage) as a ‘possible carcinogen’. What she fails to mention is that the IARC also groups coffee itself as a possible carcinogen (group 2B), along with pickled vegetables and the cell phone in your pocket. In fact the highest level they categorize (group 1, two levels above 2B) includes outdoor air pollution and alcoholic beverages. If we are to use Food Babe’s judgment of what is ‘harmful’, we would be at a much higher risk by enjoying a nice glass of wine in the outdoor seating of a quaint little bistro in LA. My question would be simple: “According to the IARC, what poses a higher risk of carcinogenic exposure, caramel color or the coffee itself?” I never got a chance to ask her that question.
What I’m going to recount next may resemble conspiracy, but I’m almost certain that Food Babe knew exactly who I was when she entered the auditorium. Before going on stage, she stared right at me (I was only about 15 feet away), and summoned her handlers and event coordinator. They all whispered covertly for half a minute while occasionally glancing over at me. For a moment I thought I might be asked to leave. Keep in mind that I am still wearing my sweatshirt over my GMO shirt, and at this point I hadn’t spoken to anyone at the event about my intentions of being there. But I had been all over Facebook posting about it in public groups. I also know that she, or more likely someone that works for her, ironically pre-banned members of a Facebook group called Banned by the Food Babe. You see, she has a reputation for immediately silencing anyone who dares ask actual science questions on her page, and so a group was created for people to discuss their bannings. Many members were surprised to find out that they had been preemptively silenced just by joining this public group. Thus, it makes logical sense to conclude that she must also know about the various Food Babe parody pages, and my face is plastered all over mine. In fact, after hearing her speak and noticing just how concerned she was about herself and her image, I’ve concluded that there is no way that she could NOT know about a semi-popular Facebook page that is making fun of her. My suspicions were further confirmed when I later saw her walking alone through another area of the expo. She spotted me and quickly looked away. She then met up with her handlers and they pulled the ‘don’t look now, but that’s the guy’ routine, which of course means all four of them simultaneously turned around and checked me out as they scampered away. At the risk of sounding like a stalker, I only wanted to ask her a question.
Vani’s talk conveniently ran long and she decided not to field questions. She stuck around to take some photos with fans, and when I tried to join the party, she avoided me like the plague. I decided that since there would be no ‘Food Hunk meets Food Babe’ photo op, there was no more need to hide my true identity. The sweatshirt was coming off.
Strangely, the very first interaction I had with anyone while wearing my pro-GMO shirt was with the infamous Jeffrey Smith himself. For those unaware of Jeffrey Smith, he is an anti-GMO, pseudo-science promoting author, documentarian, and former politician for the obscure Natural Law party. He was walking alone when I asked if I could take a picture with him. He said, “Absolutely not. Not with an ‘I Love GMOs t-shirt’” I responded “Why, don’t you love insulin?” He kind of snickered so I asked one more time, “Please, just one picture?” He refused and walked away.
It was fascinating wearing my ‘I love GMOs’ t-shirt to the event. I was receiving looks of real, visceral anger. I even experienced some schoolyard bullying type of behavior, with people purposefully refusing to move as I walked by, or sticking out their elbows hoping to get a jab. I remained respectful, never antagonizing anyone, even when people remarked about my shirt or my questions to the panel in disgust. The best way I can describe it is this: through their lens, they were like a convention full of astrophysicists, and I was a moon landing denier. They just couldn’t fathom how uninformed I was. Yet when they questioned me, they were surprised at my tangible knowledge and desire for respectful conversation. This wasn’t what they were expecting; they were either hoping to teach me something, or to be rude or hostile. Still, I hesitate to keep referring to ‘them’ as if they are the enemy. The people at this expo were mostly just good, well-intentioned people who want to do what’s right. The problem is they don’t realize how full of crap the Jeffrey Smiths and the Vani Haris of this world are. If everyone realized it, there wouldn’t be any Jeffrey Smiths.
food is medicine
It wasn’t all anti-GMO posturing at the expo, there were also some heirloom crops. Credit: Jeff Fountain
The Q & As with Andrew Kimbrell (another well-known GMO oppose) and Jeffrey Smith had me the most wary. I have a decent understanding of the science behind genetic modification, but nobody can obfuscate and use ‘sciencey’ sounding double-talk like these guys. Finally, opportunity struck and I asked if Andrew thought there was any inherent danger to GM technology, and whether there could be ‘good’ or useful applications for genetic modification through gene transfer. I continued by citing examples of recent advancements in disease treatment. (Gaucher’s disease, Ebola, etc.) To paraphrase, he responded by discussing the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. My guess is that he knew this jargon would only serve to confuse and simultaneously impress the majority of the audience. He then completely twisted and botched the science into concluding with “No. There are no good uses because it doesn’t work” even though I just given him perfect examples of beneficial applications. As Karl later explained to me, he has latched onto the canard that “genetic engineering is based on obsolete science” and he brings up the 1-gene-1-protein hypothesis and that genetics has disproven that. He twists this to mean that GMOs don’t work. However, the fact that some genes can code for different proteins does not in any way imply that transgenes don’t work – or even that they code for multiple proteins. Nevertheless, Mr. Kimbrell can get away scot-free lying to good people by using a meaningless phrase like “GM does not work.” Forget about the fact that he just spent half an hour trying to frighten a gymnasium full of people about the dangers of herbicide resistance, and Bt expressing corn – both traits introduced by GM technology that clearly “works.” Unfortunately, the majority of the audience doesn’t see the contradiction in these statements.
For the next speaker, Jeffrey Smith, I didn’t have questions prepared. I just wanted to listen and pose whatever questions came up. Eventually, he ended up living up to his M.O. by trying to scare people with debunked claims of GMO causing “leaky gut,” and links to autism, ADHD, Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes. I asked him if that were the case, why do we see the same rates of these diseases and conditions in the European Union? He at first stammered about the EU still using glyphosate, but he had just said that it was the Bt corn causing the leaky gut, not the glyphosate resistance. So I followed up by asking if it was because of pesticides, and not because of any inherent defect or danger in GMOs? He started citing the debunked, fraudulent Seralini study, directing his attention towards an audience that probably didn’t know any better. And then to my disbelief he said something to the effect of, “We know that correlation does not imply causation, but with what we know about Monsanto, and the government, and the industry-funded studies, and the USDA,… that’s when you get the causation.”
I said out loud to myself, and probably audible to a few people seated around me, “No, that’s when you get a conspiracy.”
After the Smith talk, I was standing outside the auditorium and reporting back to my siblings-in-arms on my smart phone. An older white-haired farmer-type gentleman (a guess for sure – I don’t know what he did for a living) followed me out of the building and wanted to talk. He carefully whispered while looking over his shoulder, “I tell ya, you got a lot of balls wearing that shirt here with these people, but I think you’re right. I listen to these guys, and the science is just not there.” We talked for a few minutes and it was one of my favorite moments of the event.
expo collage
Lots going on at the expo. Credit: Jeff Fountain
I soon learned that a documentary film crew was at the expo, and after talking with one of them, I learned that they were interested in the questions that I posed to the speakers, and wanted to ask me more in an interview! Food Hunk in a film? Of course!
I don’t know how much of this, or if any of it is ever going to see the light of day in the documentary that was being filmed. I know they can film countless hours of footage and most of it hits the cutting room floor. I found out later that the director was nominated for an Oscar a few years ago. He took a few minutes to interview me on camera about what I was doing there, and I got to tell him about my page. Again, I seriously doubt that any of it will be used in the film, but I’ll forever be able to tell my friends that I was interviewed by an Oscar nominated filmmaker about ‘Food Hunk’. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that.
Overall I’m happy with how things went in my first small attempt at pro-science activism. But can we really call the act of simply asking questions ‘activism’?
I do know one thing: If this event comes back around next year and it’s hosting the same brand of anti-science speakers, I’m going to be there again. Only this time I’m going to be more prepared, and I’m bringing friends.
Editor’s note: Special thanks to Kavin Senapathy for providing editorial input for this post.
==