Science AMA Series: I’m Alison Van Eenennaam, a geneticist at University
of California – Davis. I am in the documentary movie Food Evolution -
narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson that is playing in NYC this week, and
I’m here today to talk about it. AMA!
Abstract
I am an animal geneticist at UC Davis with a strong interest in science
communication. I am in the documentary film called Food Evolution which
is showing in New York City this week at Village East Cinema
(https://www.citycinemas.com/villageeast/film/food-evolution). The film
uses the debate around GMOs as a proxy for bigger questions around
decision making, alternative facts, and asks why do many people make
decisions with their hearts rather than their heads? The movie has
reviews in Science, and the Hollywood Reporter. As someone working in
agricultural science my entire career I see a lot of deceptive marketing
designed to play on people’s fears, and recently a lot of misleading
“absence-labeling” suggesting the absence of something that was never
in the food product in the first place (e.g. gluten-free water). My own
research focuses on genetic improvement of cattle, with some research
focusing on using gene editing as discussed in Science Friday and
illustrated in this video. I will be back at 11 am PT (2 pm ET); I look
forward to your questions on genetic improvement of crops and livestock,
and/or questions related to the movie Food Evolution. My twitter handle
is @biobeef.