Week 7: The great debate

The controversy is between academic research and private industry (commercial products).  Should data from seed companies be made public or is the information strictly the companies property?  Research scientists and the private seed industry have agreements and terms which allow for the sharing and public use of vital information involving human and environmental health.

Who's in control though?  The EPA and FDA have certian standards that must be met in order to become commercially available to the public.  Although these two organizations regulate to some extent what goes on within the biotechnology of the product the seed companies in all reality can determine and alter the tests conducted.  The private seed industry has the majority of say on what can be published and what can't.  They decide and form agreements on the testing with the academic sector and if the public researchers do not comply with the conditions then no information can legally be conducted.

Researchers are going about this all wrong.  I believe that a stronger trust between the two should be formed rather than researches criticizing.  Researchers working with the private seed industry could correlate with each other in that the information formulated from research could benefit the companies in a good way and  at the same time the public could become aware of the technology at hand.  Using the information from the test trials and comparisons could aid in correcting or formulating better and newer products.

Growers should be informed and given disclaimers on the performance data.  This would give the producers a better understanding of what they growing.  Also the growers would be given the information on whether the seed was extensively compared to other top varieties and standards.  Although bio-technology is looked upon as a negative aspect in some cases without this technology (GM crops) food security would not be in the position it is currently in today.  Our global food source is very much dependent on bio-tech crops which involves the advancement of increased productivity for an ever growing world population.