Grainnet

Washington, D.C— The U.S. Grains Council, the leading organization for export market development for barley, corn and sorghum, has dedicated years of service to educating international biotechnology regulators, government officials and end-users on the safety of biotechnology supported by sound science.

This week, however, the Council is taking a different and innovative approach to setting the record straight and addressing existing misconceptions by educating Korean high school teachers, university professors and authors of Korean textbooks.

“We found that in many cases school (high school and university) textbooks were very misleading in terms of presenting the proven, science-based facts regarding the use and safety of modern biotechnology,” said Byong Ryol Min, USGC director in Korea.

“By starting with students, we are paving the way for biotechnology acceptance from regulators and consumers.

It is important that educators understand early on the unbiased, scientific fact about genetically enhanced products, rather than waiting to educate them when they have already been impacted by the flood of false information distributed on the Internet.”

The group, consisting of seven teachers and/or textbook authors, started their fact-finding mission in Prairie City, Iowa, located near Des Moines.

They visited the farm of Gordon Wassenaar to see firsthand production agriculture and ask Wassenaar and nine other Iowa farmers questions pertaining to biotechnology.

Wassenaar said the group did express a level of concern but left more confident in U.S. farmers.

“We are farmers, but we are also entrepreneurs and our families depend on consumers trusting us to produce a safe and reliable supply of grains,” Wassenaar told the Korean educators. “If it is not good for consumers, my success is impacted.

We really care about and rely on our global consumers. If it is not safe for them, we will not grow it…if I am not thinking about them (consumers) my business would be ruined.

When choosing what seeds to plant we always think about the consumers.”

Concluding their visit at the Council’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., the group expressed trust in food products derived from genetically enhanced seeds, but seemed more concerned about the future as new technologies are developed and embraced.

“We have good regulations and regulatory offices in place to ensure safety now and in the future,” said USGC Biotechnology Programs Director Rebecca Fecitt.

“We need sensible oversight to ensure the continued safety of genetically enhanced grains.” She told the educators the idea that eating genetically enhanced food products could have long-term health effects is simply not true.

“The substances produced by the genetically enhanced DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in the plants are broken down by the digestive system like any other food product.”

Min said the information provided will serve as great resources for the instructors who have been impacted by the increase of misinformation hitting the World Wide Web.

For more information, call 202-789-0789.

See Related Websites/Articles:

• U.S. Grains Council

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