Online Biotechnology Magazine Launched

May 30, 2001

Farmers, agribusiness people, researchers and consumers looking for reliable, easy-to-understand information on developments in biotechnology have a new resource in a monthly online magazine to be called Biotech and You! The magazine is featured on www.whybiotech.com, the Council for Biotechnology Information's Web site, and includes articles on advances in food biotechnology; feature stories written by farmers, researchers and other biotech experts; and a monthly online poll about biotech issues.

Biotech crops now account for 63% of the soybeans, 64% of the cotton and 24% of the corn planted in the United States in 2001.

The inaugural issue of Biotech and You! includes the story of Donna Winters, a third-generation family farmer and grandmother in Lake Providence, LA, who tells how biotechnology has helped improve her crops and her farm. Biotechnology, which can be applied to selectively give plants and crops improved qualities, helps farmers like Winters grow more food with less impact on the environment.

For the past five years, the Winters family has planted biotech crops that have a built-in resistance to insect pests, allowing them to use less pesticide and fewer natural resources. "We used to spray our cotton fields with pesticides eight to 10 times each season to fight bollworm," said Winters. "Last year we planted biotech cotton with a built-in resistance to certain insects and we didn't have to spray at all for bollworm."

The biotech varieties of cotton and soybean that Winters grows require significantly less plowing, which helps control soil erosion and positively impacts local water quality by reducing run-off. Winters also attributes the increase in wildlife on her farm to these new practices. "We've seen a dramatic return of wildlife on the farm since we started growing biotech crops. For example, the quail on our farm had disappeared 20 years ago and we're so excited they're coming back," said Winters.

Biotech and You! includes information on other advances in biotechnology including research on using foods like bananas or honey to deliver vaccines and a new variety of citrus trees being developed to resist pests. It also explains how three federal agencies work together to regulate the safety of biotech foods for people and the environment.

"Food biotechnology promises to feed more people with more nutritious food while helping to keep the Earth productive and healthy," said Linda Thrane, executive director of the Council for Biotechnology Information. "Biotech and You! on www.whybiotech.com was developed to provide the best information possible on how biotechnology is improving our food because we know how much people care about the food their family eats."