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Bioscience Resource Project

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Type501(c)(3) educational nonprofit
FocusScience, Food and Agriculture, Health, Environment, Biotechnology, Biosafety
Established2006
LocationIthaca, New York
Key peopleJonathan Latham, PhD, Executive Director; and co-founder Allison Wilson, PhD, Science Director
Websiteshttp://www.bioscienceresource.org/ http://independentsciencenews.org/

The Bioscience Resource Project is a public interest organization that describes itself as providing independent research and analysis in the agriculture-related biosciences since 2006.[1] In 2011, they started Independent Science News,[2] a website providing news and critical comment on topics where food, agriculture, and biotechnology impact human health and the environment.[3]

Philosophy and mission

The mission statement of the Bioscience Resource Project says the organization aims to provide high quality scientific information and analysis "to enable a healthy food system and a healthy world." [4] Underpinning this mission are the beliefs that (1) public interest science [5] and an independent science media are essential to healthy food and agricultural systems [6] and (2) the hallmark of a healthy food and agricultural system is its ability to support human health while preserving biodiversity and ecosystem health.[7]

History

Drs. Allison Wilson and Jonathan Latham initiated the Bioscience Resource Project to help remedy a perceived deficit of independent scientific analysis of genetic engineering and its risks.[8]

In 2006, the Project published two related scientific review papers: Transformation-induced Mutations in Transgenic Plants: Analysis and Biosafety [9] and The Mutational Consequences of Plant Transformation.[10] The Bioscience Resource Project website launched in 2007.

In 2008, the Project published a third scientific review, Transcomplementation and synergism in plants: implications for viral transgenes?,[11] and became a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit.

In 2011, the Project launched a second website, Independent Science News.

Project activities

Websites

The Bioscience Resource Project publishes two websites:

Independent Science News

Independent Science News.[12] Acting as a science watchdog,[13] Independent Science News reports on conflicts of interest and their implications,[14] and provides independent analysis of topical issues in genetic engineering, human genetics and disease causation, agriculture and food policy, and biosafety regulation. The website also links to science news on the web, from both traditional and alternative media sources.[15]

Bioscience Resource Project

Bioscience Resource Project.[16] The Bioscience Resource Project website describes the Project and its current work. It also links to additional resources [e.g. scientific articles [17] and websites [18]] on topics covered by Independent Science News.

Publications

The Bioscience Resource Project publishes biosafety reviews of genetic engineering techniques, such as plant transformation and the use of viral DNA to engineer virus resistance,[19] that are used to produce GM crops for commercial use.[20] The Project reviews (see 1.2 History for titles) are cited in academic articles and books on genetic engineering.[21]

Other activities

Project scientists speak at meetings and to the public. Recent venues include the 7th Annual North American Summit on Food Safety (Canada, 2012), GMLSII (Implications of GM crop cultivation at large spatial scales, Germany 2010),[22] Plant Transformation Technology II (Vienna 2011), and on National Public Radio.[23]

See also

Other organizations

References

  1. ^ Lotter, D. (2009) The Genetic Engineering of Food and the Failure of Science – Part 1: The Development of a Flawed Enterprise. Int. Journal of Society of Agriculture and Food. 16(1) p. 40.
  2. ^ Independent Science News website
  3. ^ The impacts of food and agriculture on health, society, and the environment are called the multifunctionality of agriculture and are discussed in the IAASTD.
  4. ^ The mission statement and the philosophy of the Bioscience Resource Project are found on the Philosophy and Mission page of the Bioscience Resource Project website. The Project’s philosophy is further discussed in "Why Independent Science News?" on the front page of the Independent Science News website.
  5. ^ Raffensperger et al. (1999) Defining Public Interest Research: A White Paper written for the Science and Environmental Health Network, The Center for Rural Affairs, and the Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture, Research and Education
  6. ^ There have been various attempts to describe the principles of a healthy system of food and agriculture. All address the multifunctionality of agriculture. Two examples are: (1) Principles of a Healthy, Sustainable Food System (2010) endorsed by the American Dietetic Association, the American Nurses Association, the American Planning Association, and American Public Health Association and (2) the Seattle Farm Bill Principles (2012)
  7. ^ This viewpoint occurs regularly on the two Bioscience Resource Project websites. Examples of references that support this viewpoint are: Chappell M.J. and L.A. LaValle (2009) Food security and biodiversity: can we have both? An agroecological analysis. Agriculture and Human Values 28(1)3-26.; Lappe, M.F. et al. (1998) World Hunger: 12 Myths. Second edition. Food First. Grove Press, New York; McMichael P. and Schneider M. (2011) Food Security Politics and the Millennium Development Goals. Third World Quarterly 32(1) pp132-135. See Altieri, M.A. (2000) Multifunctional Dimensions of Ecologically-based Agriculture in Latin America. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology 7(1):62-75 for a practical example.
  8. ^ Freese W. and Schubert D. (2004) Safety Testing and Regulation of Genetically Engineered Foods. BGER 21:299-324.; Peekhaus W. (2010) The Neoliberal University and Agricultural Biotechnology: Reports from the Field. Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society 30(6) pp 418-426.; Lotter, D. (2009) The Genetic Engineering of Food and the Failure of Science – Part 2: Academic Capitalism and the Loss of Scientific Integrity. Int. Jrnl. of Soc. Of Agr. and Food. 16(1) 50-68.; Diels J. et al. (2011) Association of Financial or Professional Conflict of Interest to Research Outcomes on Health Risks or Nutritional Assessment Studies of Genetically modified Products. Food Policy 36:197-203.
  9. ^ Wilson, A. K., Latham, J. R., and Steinbrecher, R. A. 2006 Transformation-induced Mutations in Transgenic Plants -- Analysis and Biosafety. Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews 23: 209-237.
  10. ^ Latham, J. R., Wilson, A. K., and Steinbrecher, R. A. 2006 The Mutational Consequences of Plant Transformation. J. Biomed Biotechnol. 2006: 25376.
  11. ^ Latham, J.R. and A.K.Wilson (2008) Transcomplementation and synergism in plants: implications for viral transgenes? Molecular Plant Pathology 9: 85-103.
  12. ^ Independent Science News
  13. ^ H. Warner M. (March 2010) Eli Lilly’s Desperate, Deceptive Campaign to Boost Bovine Growth Hormone. CBSnews.com
  14. ^ For examples of reporting on conflicts of interest see Independent Science News articles: “The Great DNA Data Deficit: Are Genes for Disease a Mirage?”; “Way Beyond Greenwashing: Have Corporations Captured Big Conservation?”; “Conflicts of Interest: In Agriculture too?”; Also see Project book reviews of The China Study and The Unhealthy Truth.
  15. ^ See the "Science News on the Web" column on the Independent Science News website.
  16. ^ Bioscience Resource Project
  17. ^ Examples include links to papers on CAFOs; Golden Rice; Biofuels; Sewage Sludge; GWAS and Scientific Assumptions, written by other public interest organizations or researchers.
  18. ^ Examples include links to the websites of other non-profit organizations (e.g. Union of Concerned Scientists, The National Whistle Blowers Center, Center for Food Safety) and public interest researchers (e.g. Sheldon Krimsky, The Blog of Marion Nestle)
  19. ^ For a review see: Dasgupta I et al. (2003) Genetic Engineering for Virus Resistance. Current Science 8(3) 341-354.
  20. ^ For a current list of genetically engineered crops that have been deregulated for commercial use or for links to the applications for deregulation themselves (i.e. the documents that describe the engineering techniques used and the safety tests performed, that are submitted by applicants to regulators when they claim GMO biosafety) see: Petitions for Nonregulated Status Granted or Pending by APHIS.
  21. ^ To see who has cited the articles go to the Google Scholar citation results for each paper. One example can be accessed at: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=4804465282536140920&as_sdt=5,33&sciodt=0,33&hl=en
  22. ^ Conference summary for International Conference on Implications of GM Crop Cultivation at Large Spatial Scales, p.1.
  23. ^ Examples of Bioscience Resource Project radio interviews are found at Uprising on Pacifica Radio (March 2012): Big Conservation Groups Rife With Corporate Executives and Why We Get Sick on Southern California Public Radio: Episode: Patt Morrison for January 11, 2011.
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