Rating: NNNNN
ADMISSIONADMISSION
Biojustice: $10-$35 sliding scale
BIO: $1,500 for non-members
FREE STUFFFREE STUFF
Biojustice: none
BIO: tote bags, golf balls, robotic mice, Dolly-the-cloned-sheep stuffed animals, cappuccino, free shoeshines, planet Earth squish balls, Slinkies and a slew of pens, twisty pencils, notepads, candies, cookies, coasters, transformer alarm clocks, compasses, hats and binoculars
FREE EATS FREE EATS
Biojustice: free picnic lunch provided by the Big Carrot and Nature’s Path — vegetarian chili, hemp chips, hemp ice cream, hemp pancakes
BIO: three meals a day, cheese and wine tasting, special dinner of fresh Atlantic salmon, Alberta beef
THE PITCHTHE PITCH
Biojustice: The industry is over-hyped and features the key players who brought us pesticides, PCBs, CFCs and silicone breast implants. Greed drives biotech, not altruism, and there’s plenty of food to go around if it’s distributed properly.
BIO: We can feed humanity and end disease we’ve developed vaccines and renal transplants and pioneered spinal cord research. But we must compete with radical groups who employ emotionally manipulative tactics.
HOW THE MEDIA SAW IT: Sample headlines HOW THE MEDIA SAW IT: Sample headlines
Pro-industryPro-industry
“Boundless Biotech” — the Star
“Biotechs look great, but it’s tough picking a stock” — the Star
“Incentives could inspire biotech to tackle Third World plague” — the Globe
“Farmers reap rewards of GM crops” — the Globe
“Genetic modifications saved Hawaiian papayas” — the Globe
“Biotech called to duty in the U.S. war on terrorism” — the Star
Critical (kind-of) Critical (kind-of)
“Suzuki sounds alarm bells” — the Star
“Biotech firms risk backlash” — the Star
“Modified crops benefit only the wealthy” — the Star
“We’ve got the food but just can’t get it there” — the Globe
“Biotech has brains and bucks, but does it have a soul?” — the Star
CHOICE WORDS ON BOTH SIDESCHOICE WORDS ON BOTH SIDES
“The animal rights movement represents a clear and present threat (that) jeopardizes biotechnology more than any other group.”
Frankie Trull
National Association for Biomedical Research
“This industry is a real loser. It’s based on hype and has produced very little.”
Brewster Kneen,
Food Analyst
“If you took Bono out of U2 and stuck him into the Toronto Symphony and said, ‘Make music,’ noise would come out but there is no way you could anticipate the consequences. And yet biotechnologists take a chunk of DNA out of one organism, introduce it into a different biological context and think they know what they’re doing.”
David Suzuki
“Greenpeace and Amnesty International are fascist organizations. They have charismatic leaders who deal in images and emotions.”
Gregory Pence author of Ethics And Ecofascism
“You are the experiment.”
Greenpeace’s warning on a box of President’s Choice cookies
“If an organic grower were to cross two corn plants to make a new variety, what regulatory process does he go through? None. Absolutely none.”
Gary Barton director of public affairs, Monsanto
“We don’t know where this is going to go, and that’s what makes it so exciting.”
from BIO’s Bioethics In The Boardroom workshop
