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Biotechnology and Food

Biotechnology and Food. Personal Choices & Public Policies Thomas M. Zinnen Biotechnology Policy & Outreach Specialist University of Wisconsin-Madison/Extension. Science Outreach. Sharing Science with Wisconsin Transforming How People View & Do Science Tours & Workshops on Campus

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Biotechnology and Food

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  1. Biotechnology and Food Personal Choices & Public Policies Thomas M. Zinnen Biotechnology Policy & Outreach Specialist University of Wisconsin-Madison/Extension

  2. Science Outreach • Sharing Science with Wisconsin • Transforming How People View & Do Science • Tours & Workshops on Campus • Workshops Anywhere in Wisconsin

  3. Science Outreach in Public Policy • SEE Biotechnology: USDA Grant for Research and Extension in Social, Economic & Ethical Issues of Ag Biotech • 2000-2001 AAAS & Institute Of Food Technologists Congressional Science Fellow with House Committee on Ag

  4. Science Outreach Biotechnology and food is a profound issue because it affects so many basic parts of life: our bodies, our families, our environment, our view of what is right.

  5. Communicating with the public A key part of ensuring that consumers can enjoy the benefits of new tools while minimizing risks and offering consumer choice.

  6. Distinctions • Public Education vs Public Relations • The Difference is in Keeping Score • Understanding vs Acceptance • Developing Science Savvy: Transforming How People View, Do & Use Science

  7. Cream Into Butter • Hands on • Kinetic • Interactive • Concrete • Experiment • Proof

  8. The Parable of the DNA Tube

  9. What is Science? • Is it something that only takes place in the Ivory Tower? • What are its roles in personal choices and public policies?

  10. How is Science Different From Other Ways of Knowing?

  11. Some Other Ways of Knowing • Reason • Logic • Math • Intuition • Instinct • Tradition • Authority

  12. More Ways of Knowing • Empiricism • Experiment • Inference • History • Literature • Revelation • Prophecy • Mysticism

  13. Still More Ways of Knowing • Mythology • Experience • Superstition • Imagination • Naïve Theories

  14. The powers & limits of science • Is science about what we know? • Or is science more about figuring out what we don’t know yet? • Going to see the solar eclipse in Cornwall

  15. What is Food? • Name three foods that come from things that have not been alive.

  16. The Biology and Nature of Food • Nearly all our food comes from living things. • Plants, Animals, Microbes • From these, humans select or develop crops, livestock and cultures. • Traits such as taste, color, ease of preparing, yield, vigor, nutrition

  17. Traits = Genotype x Environment • Manipulate the Genes • Manipulate the Environment • Manipulate both the Genes and The Environment • This is Becoming a Fundamental Fork in the Road

  18. Breeders Need Sources of Genetic Variation • Gene Pool • Methods for Selecting Desirable Traits

  19. Gene Flow and Recombination in Nature • Within a species • Between species • Transformation, Transduction, Conjugation, Cell Fusion, Viral Infection • DNA: The Carrier of Genes

  20. From Recombining DNA to Recombinant DNA Technology • 1973 Cohen & Boyer • The Gene Pool Becomes a Gene Ocean • Any Organism on Earth is a Source for Genes for Use by Breeders • Recombinant DNA Technology is one of the most powerful tools ever invented.

  21. Human Perceptions and Understanding about Genes • Our understanding about how genes change and flow affects how humans convert knowledge into technology. • For example, the concept of “species” and of “species barrier” • For example, the developing idea of “genes in context”

  22. Hearing and Speaking the Difference • Science as Statements about Nature • Vs. • Science as Statements about Our Understanding of Nature

  23. How Many Methods Do Humans Use to Genetically Modify Organisms?

  24. Selection • Breeding • Cloning • Grafting • Hybridization • Mutagenesis

  25. Tissue Culture • Somaclonal Variation • Embryogenesis • Anther Culture • Cell Fusion • Transposons • Viral Infection

  26. What Is Biotechnology? • Definitions Back to 1917 • Can include selection, breeding, fermentation, tissue culture, genetic analysis, gene splicing, and DNA analysis (genomics)

  27. What is Biotechnology? • Gene Splicing or Recombinant DNA Technology • The Controversial Technology • Recombinant DNA Technology: From Gene Pool to Genetic Ocean

  28. What is Genomics? • Finding the Sequence & Function of All the Genes of an Organism • Challenging How We View the Nature of Life and the Life of Nature. • Evolution • Vitalism: Essence vs Substance • A Shared Genetic Heritage

  29. Biotechnology is Controversial • It touches on so many fundamentals • Our Bodies • Our Families • Our Land • Our Sense of Right and Wrong

  30. Genesis, Genie, Ingenuity • Understanding Concerns about Genetic Manipulation • The Joys of Etymology: Genie Genetique

  31. Genesis

  32. Genesis • Genes

  33. Genesis • Genes • Genie

  34. Genesis • Genes • Genie • Genius

  35. Genesis • Genes • Genie • Genius • Ingenious

  36. Genesis Ingenuity • Genes • Genie • Genius • Ingenious

  37. Genesis Ingenuity • Genes Ingenieur • Genie • Genius • Ingenious

  38. Genesis Ingenuity • Genes Ingenieur • Genie Engineer • Genius • Ingenious

  39. Biotechnology is Controversial • Differences in Values • Versus • Differences in Conceptions and Misconceptions

  40. A Spectrum of Values About Food • Wholesome • Holistic • Holy

  41. Wholesome vs. Loathsome • A wholesome food can be loathsome, based on tradition, habit, taste or religion.

  42. Ethics vs Squeamics • Ethics--from ancient Greek ethos, meaning “character” or “custom” • Distinguishing between that which is unacceptable behavior and that which makes us uncomfortable

  43. Perception is Reality

  44. Perception is Reality • Except, Often It is Not • Whose job is it to point this out? • Ask Galileo if it’s easy.

  45. The Challenge of Perception is the Potential for The Feeling of Deception • How Consumers Think New Foods Are Developed, Tested and Regulated • How New Foods Are Actually Developed, Tested and Regulated

  46. Learning vs UnLearning • “It’s not that people don’t know. • It’s that so much of what people know just isn’t so.”

  47. Criticisms of Recombinant DNA Technology from Prophets, Princes, Priests and People • Perversion • Poison • Promiscuity • Profit • Power

  48. And Proof

  49. Perversion • Transfer of genes from one species to another is an abomination • ‘The realm of God and of God alone’

  50. Poison • The introduced gene itself may be a poison • Introducing new genes may turn on dangerous genes or turn off beneficial genes

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