Roger Beachy: "I Got into Biotech Because I Wanted to Reduce the Use of Pesticides"

Roger Beachy, founding president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and the current Executive Director and CEO of the Global Institute for Food Security said in a recent interview that the reason he got into biotech in the early 1980s was because he wanted to reduce the use of chemical pesticides in food production. He said that like many people, he also wants to know where his food comes from.

Talking to Food Navigator-USA, Beachy said "I wanted to see if we could develop disease resistance by using genetics rather than agrichemicals," adding that it is more sustainable and will result in a cleaner environment. In the interview, the former chief scientist of the US Department of Agriculture also discussed other issues including GMO labeling, the overuse and misuse of GM technology, and food safety concerns. On the latter, he said "some of the statements you see from anti-GMO campaigners, they just have no basis in fact, it's remarkable, they are just flat out lies."

Read the transcript of the interview available at http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/People/GMO-pioneer-I-got-into-biotech-because-I-wanted-to-reduce-the-use-of-chemical-pesticides.