&CHAPTER 15

Why Transgenic Plants Are So

Controversial

DOUGLAS POWELL

International Food Safety Network, Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology,

Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas

15.0. CHAPTER SUMMARY AND OBJECTIVES

15.0.1 Summary

Plant biotechnology has incited much protest in its relatively short commercial lifetime.

Other than the scientific reasons (risk assessment) given in Chapter 14, why all the contro-

versy? European groups have banned the planting of transgenic plants and refused to adopt

them. Why? Some of the political and social reasons are explored in this chapter.

15.0.2 Discussion Questions

1. Why is Frankenstein’s monster often used to illustrate the risks of biotechnology?


2. What are some of the factors that play into peoples’ perception of risk?


3. What are the stigmas associated with plant biotechnology, and how can they be
   overcome?


4. What two major scientific stories prompted media attention in the 1990s?


5. What issues are still being debated? Should they be?

15.1 Introduction

In 1990 author Michael Crichton wrote in the novelJurassic Park(Chrichton 1990) (which

begat the film, which begat the sequel, and then the other sequel), that

The late twentieth century has witnessed a scientific gold rush of astonishing proportions: the

headlong and furious haste to commercialize genetic engineering. This enterprise has pro-

ceeded so rapidly—with so little outside commentary—that its dimensions and implications

are hardly understood at all.

Plant Biotechnology and Genetics: Principles, Techniques, and Applications, Edited by C. Neal Stewart, Jr.

Copyright#2008 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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