Bond was joined by: Dr. Nina Fedoroff, Director, Life Sciences Consortium and Biotechnology Institute at Pennsylvania State University; Dr. Brian A. Larkins, Professor, Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Arizona; Dr. Martina McGloughlin, Director of Biotechnology at the University of California at Davis; and, Dr. Douglas Randall, a Professor at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Missouri.

The world's population is expected to double in the next 30 years, resulting in an increased demand for food that is cheaper, more nutritious, safer, easier to prepare, and produced on less land with fewer chemicals, in a more environmentally-sensitive manner. Plant technology in this half-century has helped make it possible for the U.S. farmer — who in 1940 fed 19 people — to feed 129 people today.

Scientists, medical doctors, government officials, farmers, cancer survivors, and others have testified before the U.S. Congress and elsewhere to the benefits of this new generation of technology, which may offer the sustainable production of safer and more abundant food sources, as well as new vaccines and medicines, biodegradable plastics, and cleaner energy alternatives.

Bond released a letter of support from more than 300 members of the scientific community, including scientists from the public sector, private sector and, principally, from academia. The scientists' letter: "support[s] the use of biotechnology;" speaks to the "remarkable innovations;" the benefits to consumers; and, "strongly advocate[s] the use of sound science as the basis for regulatory and political decisions pertaining to biotechnology."

"This letter makes it perfectly clear that scientists from the National Science Foundation; leading universities; regulatory agencies; the National Academy of Sciences; private companies and research institutes; the World Bank; and the National Laboratories in Los Alamos and Oak Ridge are in agreement in their support for biotechnology," Bond noted.

"Every citizen has a right to demand that our food be safe," Bond continued. "The process of validating food safety issues, regulatory protocols, and educating the public is vital. Our government and its citizens are second-to-none in our collective commitment to food safety.

"In the United States, we have a system in place that has been developed for decades to evaluate new products and protect the public," Bond added. "That system involves several agencies; it is rigorous, it is science-based, and it has the confidence of the American people.

"However, anti-science activists must understand that they are placing consumers at great risk if they succeed in undermining public confidence in biotechnology and slowing or halting its development and application," Bond warned. "The development of this technology is not recreational. It is to solve real-world problems.

"I understand that protesters dressed in costumes may provide for a good media side-show, and I understand that it has worked in Europe. However, American consumers need facts, not fiction, on which to base their decisions, and I would hope consumers around the world want the same," Bond concluded.

A copy of the scientists' letter of support for biotechnology is available at http://bond.senate.gov/Hot_Topics/Biotech/Letter/letter.html.