Food For Thought: Genetically Modified Organisms in Agriculture and Food

[EWerb at aol.com]

please forward and post

March 21, 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Eric Werbalowsky, 805-652-1142 <ewerb at aol.com>
or Jim Churchill, 805-646-4212  <jrchurchill at earthlink.net>

Food For Thought: Genetically Modified Organisms in Agriculture and Food 
A public Teach-In in Ojai, April 8

A local coalition of food and agriculture safety organizations and concerned 
citizens will hold a one day Teach-In, free to the public, on Saturday, April 
8. The day-long educational program will inform the public about the 
food-safety and environmental implications of agricultural genetic 
engineering. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Ojai Valley 
Woman's Club, 441 East Ojai Avenue, Ojai, California.

Over 100 million acres were planted with the new technology of genetically 
modified organisms (GMOs) in 1999. These crops have not been adequately 
tested for food and environmental safety, yet are unlabelled and for sale. 
Compelling problems arising from GMOs will be discussed along with proposed 
actions which may lead to a moratorium on the production of what the public 
in the United Kingdom simply calls “Frankenfoods.” 

Program speakers will describe how food safety and environmental concerns are 
being ignored by public regulatory officials and what can be done to protect 
the future of agriculture and aquaculture, as well our personal health. The 
morning session, Think Globally, will present background on the issue, 
including an explanation of the technology of genetic engineering and a 
history of GMOs in agriculture. The ethical, religious and spiritual 
implications of GMO technology will be addressed along with ways 
bioengineering is influencing the structure of contemporary science in public 
universities. 

A no-host lunch will be offered by Ojai organic food store Rainbow Bridge. 
The afternoon session, Act Locally, will be devoted to discussing actions 
that people can take to influence the ongoing debate on genetically modified 
organisms in agriculture and the food supply.

Featured speakers include Steve Sprinkel, Ventura County organic farmer and 
associate editor of ACRES USA, a national alternative farming monthly 
journal; Alasdair Coyne, local environmental activist; Jim Churchill, Ojai 
farmer; Lisa Brenneis, writer; and others.

The Ojai Alliance, sponsor of the Food for Thought Teach-In, is an ad-hoc 
group which includes the Ojai Permaculture Guild, the Environmental Defense 
Center, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Mothers for Natural Law, 
Rainbow Bridge, and Ojai Ecosystem Services. The group invites other 
interested parties to join in this project.

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