crisis in Britain. On March 20, 1996 the British government announced what many already
knew—that consumption of products from cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy,
or mad cow disease, was leading to a new variant form of Creutzfeld–Jacob disease (vCJD)
that struck the young and was particularly gruesome, leading to its inevitable death in the
victim. Millions of animals were killed at a cost of billions of dollars in lost trade, and to
date some 150 people have died from vCJD. Mad cow disease clearly represented modern
agricultural practices as science out of control.
Unlike European farmers, North American farmers were eager to sample and adopt the
newly available GE seeds, and were prepared to enter the public debate to retain and ensure
access to those tools. As Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to William Charles Jarvis, dated
Sept. 28, 1820, “I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the
people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control
with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their
discretion” (NRC 1989, p. 14).
This led to an active information campaign, not to educate, but to inform and let consu-
mers decide for themselves. Farmers have no interest in providing a product that consumers
don’t want. That would be an expensive failure. A decade later, the debates seem so much
ado about...not much. Several of the debates are discussed below.
15.6 Continuing Debates
15.6.1 Process versus Product
Genetic variability is required to enhance traits deemed desirable by humans. Geneticists
can travel the world searching for plants, animals, or microorganisms that posses a trait
of interest such as increased productivity or disease resistance. Desirable variability
can be selected over generations of breeding. Genetic engineering, using the tools of
molecular biology, allows further sources of genetic variability to be introduced into a
particular organism.
Figure 15.1.Greenpeace demonstration in front of a Toronto grocery store (photo by Doug Powell).
15.6. CONTINUING DEBATES 351