The controversy surrounding genetic engineering is heating up in Asia, as the transnational food and agriculture industry moves to bring its patented biotechnologies into the region's farmlands. The companies are enlisting the support of a number of international, non-profit, development organizations to promote biotechnology and help to engineer the necessary political and legal landscape for its worldwide adoption. These organizations include the UN Industrial Development Organisation, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and many others. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) is one of the most focused promoters of gene technologies in Asia. Through the formation and support of key local elites, ISAAA is helping carry out an agenda set by transnational corporations (TNCs), in the name of Asia's rural poor.
