Green Technology Forum

“As a student and fan of this great country, America, and the ideas at the heart of it, I think the wider world needs to see a demonstration of those ‘American’ values, through pharmacology, agro-ecology, and technological help for those in extreme circumstances, in their hour of need.”

Bono, “Message 2U: Guest Editor’s Letter,” Vanity Fair, July 2007

What would a demonstration of American values through technological help to those in need look like? If those in need live in Africa, where Bono focuses his attention, people need help meeting their most basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. There, affordability is everything. People there don’t starve because there’s no food, they starve because they just can’t afford it.

But can we put new, powerful technologies like nanotechnology and biotechnology to work feeding people when technological development is largely driven by the quest for profit? The 206 million people who are hungry right now in sub-Saharan Africa certainly hope we can answer yes.

At Green Technology Forum we’re currently working with one of the world’s largest companies to spread new nanotechnologies that could literally save hundreds of thousands of lives. And we’re not alone. Innovative companies around the world are coming up with green nanotechnologies and biotechnologies that can make food, clothing and shelter more affordable while at the same time making a living for those who produce and sell them. But not all nano and biotech advances are intended to benefit humanity.

At Green Technology Forum the test we employ in evaluating the social justice of a new technology is simple:

“Who does it benefit?”

“How does it benefit them?”

If a technology benefits more than just an elite few, and does so in a way that does not harm others and has minimal environmental impact, we’ll pursue it. We also donate a minimum of 5 percent of our gross income to organizations dedicated to social and environmental causes.

“From here, what’s needed is a leg up, not a handout,” says Bono. Nanotechnology and biotechnology could be the answer, if we ask the right questions.

For the first time, plants containing human genes will be grown in the US. Last week the Agriculture Department gave preliminary approval for Ventria Bioscience to conduct large-scale cultivation in Kansas of rice that produces human immune system proteins.

The proteins — lactoferrin and lysozyme — are bacteria-fighting compounds found in breast milk and saliva that fight diarrhea. Producing them in plants makes the treatment more affordable for children in the developing world, where the disease kills 2 million children each year, Ventria officials said.

And who can argue with helping poor, sick kids get well?

Ventria seems to be following a common pattern in biotech history where companies introduce controversial technologies to aid sick children, then work their way into the real money-making later. It’s an effective way to curtail initial opposition to controversial technologies like adding human genes into plants. After all, who wants to be seen as opposing aid to sick children?

Do biotech executives really think the public will believe they’re in it for the children? Apparently so:

“We can really help children with diarrhea get better faster,” says Scott E. Deeter, Ventria’s president and chief executive. “That is the idea.”

And while the sick kid strategy may fool some people, it isn’t fooling agriculture giant Anheuser-Busch — the nation’s largest rice buyer. When Ventria initially proposed to grow their gene-altered rice in Missouri, the beer maker threatened to stop buying rice from the state if the deal went through.

Listen as former congressman James Greenwood, President and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, which represents over one thousand biotechnology companies and related organizations, talks about what it takes to bring today’s biotech breakthroughs to market, and how they are leading the move toward clean energy.

 

 James Greenwood interview: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download