Acclaimed Documentary Filmmaker Challenges Monsanto to Debate Safety of GE Food

Web Note: You can order Deborah Garcia Koon's DVD, The Future of Food, from the Organic Consumers Association. See <http://www.organicconsumers.org/party.htm

Filmmaker Challenges Monsanto to Debate on Safety of Genetically Engineered Foods

4/14/2005 6:58:00 AM

To: National Desk

Contact: Deborah Garcia, 415-383-0553

SAN FRANCISCO, April 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Responding to charges from a Monsanto spokesman that her highly acclaimed film "The Future of Food" isn't factual, Deborah Koons Garcia is challenging Monsanto to a debate on the safety of genetically engineered foods.

"Let's debate the facts in a public forum and see who is lying to the American public about the safety of these risky crops," Garcia says. "Monsanto probably won't want to engage in a public debate because they know that my film is telling the truth. It appears that Monsanto has been trying to keep the American public in the dark about the dangers of genetically engineered foods for years."

Garcia says she and many of the experts in her film are willing to debate Monsanto in a public forum in St. Louis, Washington DC, or anywhere in the
country.

Garcia was responding to charges by Monsanto spokesman Chris Horner, reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, that "The Future of Food" "rehashes a lot of old claims and presents them as fact when they're not the least bit factual."

"Everything in 'The Future of Food' has been very carefully documented," Garcia says. "In making the film, we relied on a tremendous group of prestigious advisors from many walks of life, including scientists, professors and farmers. It's disingenuous for Monsanto to allege that the movie is not telling the truth, without backing up the claims."

"The Future of Food," released in 2004, offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.

From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply.

Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, "The Future of Food" examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system.

Further information about the film can be found at http://www.thefutureoffood.com . http://www.usnewswire.com/