New York Times | December 14, 1999 | By ANDREW POLLACK
OAKLAND, Calif. - As the Food and Drug Administration held the last of its three public hearings on bio-engineered food on Monday, hundreds of protesters staged what organizers said was the largest rally ever in the United States against the use of genetic engineering in food.
But in a sign that scientists might more actively defend biotechnology, about 30 professors and graduate students from the University of California campuses in Berkeley and Davis held their own demonstration.
Many of these demonstrators were from Berkeley's department of plant and microbial biology, which last year entered into an arrangement to receive $25 million in research funds from Novartis, the huge Swiss drug and agriculture company.
The protests, which coexisted peacefully outside the federal building here, reflect increasing public concern about genetically altered crops, which have swept largely unnoticed into American agriculture over the last decade. Because of that concern, the F.D.A. held hearings in Chicago and Washington last month to inform the public about its rules on biotech foods and seek comment on whether they need to be changed.
The Novartis contribution, which represents 30 percent of the department's research funds, has caused dissension both on campus and off.
"The circumstances in which it is being set up give just too much space for suspicion that it is tainted by the contribution of Novartis," said Ignacio Chapela, an assistant professor of microbial ecology who had opposed the deal, saying it would undermine the university's academic integrity.
But Wilhelm Gruissem, a professor of plant and microbial biology who is chairman of the committee overseeing the university research financed by Novartis, said that scientists retain academic freedom under the contract with the company.
Dr. Gruissem, who was the main organizer of today's pro-biotech demonstration, said the biotech supporters had come of their own accord out of their concern that the public was not being informed about the benefits of biotechnology.
"We are public sector scientists no matter where the funding comes from, and we are free to say whatever we want," said Dr. Gruissem.
Charles Margulis of Greenpeace said it was the largest protest in this country against bio-engineered food, not counting those at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, which involved other issues.
