FOOD BIOTECHNOLOGY ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO BE NAMED ON NOVEMBER 15

Group to advise state agencies

SACRAMENTO, November 13, 2001-An advisory committee on food biotechnology issues will be named at a meeting on November 15, 2001 at 10 a.m. at California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) headquarters, 1220 N Street, Sacramento.

Nominations to the committee were sought by CDFA, the California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency and the California Health and Human Services Agency. The nominations were solicited from consumer groups, the agriculture industry, food processors, food retailers, environmental groups, biotechnology and the organic food industry.

Secretaries from the three agencies serve on a task force created by Senate Bill 2065, which was authored by Senator Jim Costa and signed last year by Governor Gray Davis. The law outlines a process by which the state would develop policy in the emerging field of biotechnology. Committee members will assist the task force in this effort.

Note-Meeting agenda follows.





-30-









FOOD BIOTECHNOLOGY TASK FORCE

AGENDA

Place: CDFA Auditorium
1220 N St; Sacramento, CA 95814

Date: November 15, 2001

Time: 10:00 am to 11:30 am

A. Introductions

B. Remarks of the Secretaries
a. Technology, Trade and Commerce
b. Health and Human Services
c. Food and Agriculture

C. Description and History of SB 2065

D. Description of Implementation Plan of SB 2065

E. Presentation of Staff Recommendations for the Food Biotechnology Advisory Committee

§ Ted Batkin, Citrus Research Board in Visalia, CA

§ T. Jeffrey Boese, California League of Food Processors in Sacramento, CA

§ Kent Bradford, Seed Biotechnology Center at the University of California, Davis

§ Christine Bruhn, Center for Consumer Research at the University of California, Davis

§ Henry Chin, Center for Technical Assistance of the National Food Processors Association in Dublin, CA

§ Maarten Chrispeels, the Center for Molecular Agriculture at the University of California, San Diego

§ Cynthia Cory, Environmental Affairs for the California Farm Bureau Federation in Sacramento, CA

§ Norman Ellstrand, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at the University of California, Riverside

§ Steve Forsberg, California Plant Health Association in Sacramento, CA

§ Rebecca Goldburg, Environmental Defense in New York, NY

§ Michael Hanson Consumers Union/Consumer Policy Institute in Yonkers, NY

§ Lance Hastings, California Grocers Association in Sacramento, CA

§ Leslie Krasny, Keller and Heckman LLP in San Francisco, CA

§ Sharan Lanini, private agricultural consultant in Salinas, CA

§ Brian Leahy, California Certified Organic Farmers in Santa Cruz, CA

§ Peggy Lemaux, Cooperative Extension, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of California, Berkeley

§ Martin Lemon, Monsanto Company in Roseville, CA

§ John Maas, California Cattlemen’s Association’s Cattle Health Committee in Sacramento, CA

§ Pamela Marrone, AgraQuest, Inc., in Davis, CA

§ Danila Oder, Organic Consumers Association in Los Angeles, CA

§ Joe Panetta, President and CEO of BIOCOM/San Diego in San Diego, CA

§ Kristin Power, Grocery Manufacturers of America in Sacramento, CA

§ Jane Rissler, Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, DC

§ Barbara Schneeman, Department of University of California, Davis

§ Sharon Shoemaker, California Institute of Food and Agricultural Research at the University of California, Davis

§ Suzanne Teuber, School of Medicine of the University of California, Davis

§ James Tillison, Alliance of Western Milk Producers in Sacramento, CA

§ Kerry Tucker, CEO of Nuffer, Smith and Tucker in San Diego, CA

§ Cynthia Wagner Weick, University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA

§ Kimberly Wilson, Greenpeace in San Francisco


F. Public Input

G. Task Force’s Approval of the Food Biotechnology Advisory Committee Nominations with any Additions/Changes