Update from the Institute for Social Ecology's Biotechnology Project

Institute for Social Ecology
Biotechnology Project
PO Box 93
Plainfield, Vermont 05667

Dear friend of the Biotechnology Project,

How often do you eat food containing genetically engineered ingredients? It’s really very hard to know!

Although it’s estimated that at least 70 percent of food in the U.S. has genetically engineered ingredients, concerns about this untested technology in our meals and snacks aren’t often seen in the mainstream media. And, unfortunately, organic doesn’t always mean non-GMOs.

At the Biotechnology Project of the Institute for Social Ecology, we are continuing our grassroots work to educate and organize locally and regionally about the implications of genetic engineering. We are working with people in communities throughout Vermont and the Northeast to raise awareness, pass resolutions, organize events, and pressure corporations.

In November we held an intensive strategy meeting of GMO activists from all over the Northeast, resulting in the formation of four regional working groups; please let us know if you want to participate!

Next May, the biotechnology industry is bringing their huge annual convention back to Boston and we’re working to create a colorful and informative grassroots response.

Here in Vermont, we’re proud of our new Youth Media for Sustainable Agriculture program, working with high school students to learn the issues and produce documentaries that are showing on public access TV stations around Vermont.

Our short video, “GMOs in Vermont,” is on the YouTube website at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cDZ90rUcvk.

and on Current TV at http://www.current.tv/studio/media/11899052

Our new Youth Media website is at
http://www.social-ecology.org/staticpages/index.php?page=youth_media.
(You can also go to social-ecology.org and follow the links from the “Projects” button.)

Here’s what our student video producers learned about genetically modified foods in their interviews:

§ Combinations of genetic traits that have never existed in nature before are now in our foods.

§ If GE foods are used before we understand the long-term consequences, we can’t put the "genie" back in the bottle because pollen is alive and cross-pollinates, making it difficult to contain.

§ Consumers and farmers are very concerned about genetically engineered foods.


Please give generously to support the Biotechnology Project and our Youth Media program. Just go to our website and click on "Donate Now" right on the Youth Media page. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation for $35, $50 or $100. If you contribute $50 or more, we’ll send you one of our short overview videos from the Youth Media program on DVD. You can also earmark your donation for any of our other program activities.

All of us at the ISE—staff and volunteers—greatly appreciate your support!

Sincerely,

Brian Tokar
Lesley Becker
The Biotechnology Project
Institute for Social Ecology


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Brian Tokar
Biotechnology Project
c/o Institute for Social Ecology
P.O. Box 93
Plainfield, VT 05667
biotech@social-ecology.org