SYNGENTA COMMERICAL: From medicine to agriculture, biotechnology is providing solutions that are improving lives today, and could improve our world tomorrow.
O'BRIEN: The industry may have a hard time persuading Dr. Keith Finger, a Florida optometrist, who says he went into what's called "anaphylactic shock" after eating what he believes to have been genetically modified Starlink corn.
DR.
KEITH FINGER (Optometrist): I had hives covering probably 90% of my body except
for my face. That big - like raspberries. Raised, red, bloody-looking raspberries.
My throat was constricting so that my breathing was becoming labored. O'BRIEN: Could it have been the tortillas he had for dinner? Or the black beans and rice? Nobody knows yet, but the Food and Drug Administration is looking into whether corn products in both the tortillas and the black bean dinner may have been the same genetically modified Starlink corn which, although only approved as animal feed, recently found its way into the human food chain.
MS. LISA DRY (Biotechnology Industry Organization) Starlink is a mistake that should never have happened.
O'BRIEN: And a public relations disaster for the bio-tech industry.
MS. DRY: Somehow, and we still don't know how it happened, it made itself into the food system.
O'BRIEN:
The company that produces Starlink corn, Aventis CropScience, has since tried
to pull it from the market, but company officials say it's too late, that the
modified corn is now cross-pollinating with traditional corn and it may be impossible
to separate the two. Whatever the reason, the Starlink debacle has only added fuel to the ongoing debate over genetically modified food. McDonald's and Burger King have told their suppliers they no longer want genetically modified potatoes for their famous French Fries, citing concerns about consumer acceptance. Some upscale supermarkets are similarly backing off.
More than 40 states are considering new restrictions on genetically modified foods. North Dakota wants to impose a two-year moratorium on growing genetically modified wheat -- backed by farmers concerned about their ability to market their produce in Europe and Japan, where opposition is intense. Exports have dropped to a trickle. In an industry with such exceptional promise, what on earth has gone so wrong?
DR.
JANE RISSLER (Union of Concerned Scientists): There have been hundreds of
millions of dollars invested in developing new products for biotechnology. A mere
pittance has gone to research on risk. O'BRIEN: Critics, like Jane Rissler of the Union of Concerned Scientists, complain the industry has paid inadequate attention to potential risks.
DR. RISSLER: There is the possibility that genetic engineering introduces new proteins in the food that people could be allergic to. If you became ill, would you say, 'Oh my gosh, it's because of genetically engineered food?' No. How would you know? You don't know whether you're eating it or not.
O'BRIEN: Religious groups, concerned about dietary restrictions, have demanded genetically modified foods be labeled as such. The industry has resisted, fearing labeling might be unduly alarming. To some, the mere idea of tampering with the gene pool -- even of vegetables -- violates scripture.
RABBI FRED DOBB: The major text that applies here is from Leviticus, Chapter 19, verse 19. "So you should not let your cattle mate with a different kind, you should not sow your seed of a mixed kind and you should not put on cloth that is from mixed material, wool and linen."
O'BRIEN:
We've had hybrid fruit and vegetables for years, but what science is tinkering
with now is quite different -- introducing the DNA of living organisms, of animals,
into the food we eat. 
PROFESSOR
DIVELY: These are plants that have been totally defoliated; all the leaves
have been chewed off and consumed, and basically you just have stems remaining.
And adjacent, you have then the BT variety. 
MS.
DRY: The public doesn't know and that's because we've not done a great job
at sharing information and that's something that's being addressed now. We're
trying to be as open as possible. 
