Future of Food: Value Vs. Risk in the Biotechnology Debate; SCU Hosts Conference on Genetically Modified Food.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Genetic modification of food -- a hot topic of international debate -- is at the center of Santa Clara University's annual biotechnology conference on the legal and ethical aspects of emerging biotechnologies.

"The Future of Food," April 15, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. addresses the legal and ethical challenges of genetically modified food and will address several questions:

--Should we pursue the genetic modification of food?

--What is the legal infrastructure?

--Is genetic modification of food a necessary tool to relieve world hunger?

Genetically modified food, many argue, is the future of food, and can relieve world hunger by producing more plentiful, nutritious, and hardy crops. However, genetic changes in food crops have lasting global implications, which require ethical and legal considerations.

SCU's High Tech Law Institute and the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, along with conference co-sponsor the Santa Clara Journal of International Law, bring together experts from the fields of biotechnology, law, and ethics to discuss these issues.

David Magnus, co-director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and member of the Secretary of Agriculture's Advisory Committee on Biotechnology in the 21st Century, will be the keynote speaker. Magnus recently served on the National Research Council Ad Hoc Committee on the Bioconfinement of Genetically Engineered Organisms.

Panel 1: Should We Have Genetically Modified Foods?

--Gregory Baker -- Director, Food and Agribusiness and Professor of Management, SCU Leavey School of Business 

--Michelle Marvier -- Executive Director, Environmental Studies Institute and Assistant Professor of Biology, SCU

--John Bedbrook -- President and CEO, Verdia

--Paul Thompson -- Professor of Agriculture, Food and Community Ethics, Michigan State University 

Panel 2: How Do We Regulate Genetically Modified Foods?

--June Carbone -- Professor of Law, SCU School of Law

--Elizabeth Howard -- Partner, Orrick, Herrigton & Sutcliffe LLP 

--Gregory Mandel -- Associate Professor of Law, Albany Law School 

--Janice Mueller -- Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Panel 3: Do We Need Genetically Modified Foods to Feed the World?

--Kirk Hanson -- Executive Director, SCU Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

--Walter Falcon -- Co-Director, Center for Environmental Science and Policy, Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for International Studies, and Helen C. Farnsworth Professor of International Agricultural Policy, Stanford University (Emeritus)

--Peggy G. Lemaux -- Professor, Plant and Microbial Biology, and Cooperative Extension Specialist in Plant Biotechnology, University of California, Berkeley 

--Thomas MacMillan -- Executive Director, Food Ethics Council

The conference is open to the general public with a registration fee of $50. Santa Clara University students and faculty may attend this conference for FREE, but registration is required. For information on registration, and the panelists, visit www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/medical/conference.html.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California's Silicon Valley, offers its 8,213 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the third-highest graduation rate among all U.S. master's universities, California's oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More information is online at www.scu.edu.