What was the objective behind starting a website on agricultural biotechnology?
I started “AgBioView” in the year 2000 to provide a forum for discussion on issues facing agricultural biotechnology among scientists across the world. Because the products of our research, GM crops, were being increasingly seen as controversial and their public acceptance was being threatened by scare campaigns by the activist NGOs. I felt that scientists must speak up. To empower scientists, it is essential that we understand the root of such apprehension and also recognize that the public and policy makers must be provided with a reasoned, science-based information (in a manner that they understand) by the scientific community. The orchestrated opposition to biotechnology is by a minority of individuals or groups who are very vocal and effective but they must be countered for so much is at stake here. While scientists are not usually trained to indulge in such activism, increasingly it has become essential that we learn to communicate effectively among various stakeholders. AgBioVie
