|
70 Supporters of the biotech industry have accused an American scientist of misconduct after she testified to the New Zealand government that a genetically modified bacterium could cause serious damage if released. The New Zealand Life Sciences Network, an association of pro-GM scientists and organizations, says the view expressed by Elaine Ingham, a soil biologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis, was exaggerated and irresponsible. It has asked her university to discipline her. But Ingham stands by her comments and says the complaints are an attempt to silence her. Theyre trying to cause trouble with my university and get me fired, Ingham told New Scientist. The controversy began on 1 February, when Ingham testified before New Zealands Royal Commission on Genetic Modification, which will determine how to regulate GM organisms. Ingham claimed that a GM version of a common soil bacterium could spread and destroy plants if released into the wild. Other researchers had previously modified the bacterium to produce alcohol from organic waste. But Ingham says that when she put it in soil with wheat plants, all of the plants died within a week.. We would lose terrestrialplants... this is an organism that is potentially deadly to the continued survival of human beings, she told the commission. She added that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency canceled its approval for field tests using the organism once she had told them about her research in 1999. | 
