Outreach in Biotechnology

Improving Food & Environmental Safety

Felicia Wu, food safety expert, reviews the worldwide environmental record of genetically engineered, insect resistant corn. 

7:00p Wednesday 22 Jan 2009, Oregon State University

Felicia Wu

• lecture intro by ORB director Steve Strauss
• lecture slides (pdf version)
• study guide
• streaming audio
• streaming video

Felicia Wu is an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at the Graduate School of Public Health as well as an adjunct professor in the Center for Bioethics and Health Law at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Her research interests include economics, risk analysis, risk communication, and policy analysis applied to the areas of indoor air, food safety, and biotechnology.

In her Food for thought lecture, Felicia looks closely at the issues of pesticide and mycotoxin reduction, reviewing the environmental record of a type of genetically engineered corn that is now widely grown throughout the USA and around the globe.  Farmers plant this corn because it’s insect resistant, but there’s another, unexpected boon: GE corn kernels are less liable to mold, and therefore to become contaminated with dangerous mycotoxins.

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