Nicholas KalaitzandonakesAssociate Professor of Agribusiness at the University of Missouri and theEditor of AgBioForum. Welcome to AgBioForum, the online magazine that brings you timely information, expert opinion and research on the social and economic aspects of agricultural biotechnology. Our first issue is devoted…

Thomas J. HobanNorth Carolina State University-Raleigh The benefits of agricultural biotechnology have been promised for almost two decades. That promise is becoming reality. A growing number of American farmers are raising crops developed through biotechnology that are protected from insects and require…

B. ZechendorfDirectorate-General Science, Research & Development European Commission Agricultural experts expect “massive changes in agribusiness” when biotechnological methods and products finally penetrate the market place, as Professor Burke reminded us recently in London (Consumer acceptance, 1998). He also mentioned concern about the…

Henry I. MillerStanford University People are afraid of technology, no question about it. Some apprehension about new gadgets or products is just fear of the unknown that can easily be overcome with a little experience. But the “emotional dimension” of concerns about…

Caron ChessRutgers University This article, based on a presentation at the National Agricultural Council’s meeting (Chess, 1995), nudges the agbiotech field to look at its communication practices by examining (1) the assumption that education will increase acceptance of genetically engineered food, and…

Peter W.B. Phillips and Grant IsaacUniversity of Saskatchewan, Canada Genetically-modified plants, animals and processed foodstuffs have been introduced to the international marketplace in the 1990s. North American production of corn, soybeans and canola is now more than 50% with transgenic traits (herbicide…

Rupert Loader and Spencer HensonCentre for Food Economics Research at the University of Reading, UK Food Consumers In The UK And GMOs At the present time, the genetically modified organism (GMO) issue is rapidly emerging as the next big theme in European…

Karen K. MarshallMonsanto Company What’s in a label? A lot more than information when it comes to foods and food ingredients produced from genetically modified plants. The United States, Canada, Japan and, more recently, Australia and New Zealand have guidelines in place…

Jerry CaulderXyris Corporation Much of the debate concerning the acceptability of agricultural biotechnology can be traced to the fact that food is viewed as an entitlement in most of the developed world. In the United States (US), Europe, and other parts of…