Blackburg, Va. -- The Choices and Challenges "Food Frights" forum, at Virginia Tech on Thursday, April 11, 2002, will explore the controversies and dangers that surround food.

"We are a society concerned with food. We plan our lives around mealtime. Food is at the center of our celebrations.. Yet, an estimated 76 million Americans get sick and more than 5,000 die annually from food-related illnesses," says Doris Zallen, Choices and Challenges project director and a faculty member in the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Virginia Tech.

• There are reports about 'mad-cow disease', Salmonella, and other potential contaminants infiltrating the food supply. Is our food safe? And who makes that decision?

• Advances in biotechnology now permit new combinations of genes to be introduced into our foods. These genetically modified (GM) foods have been developed to ensure resistance to diseases in the field, longer shelf life in the store, or better nutritional content. But how do such foods affect our health, the environment, our view of nature? Can GM foods help relieve food scarcity in developing countries or might they, instead, cause economic hardships that make matters worse? Who should make decisions regarding GM foods?

• Many of us are turning to dietary supplements to improve our health. How much do we know about the possibility of herbal overdose, drug interactions, or malnutrition?

• Recent events have intensified concerns about bioterrorism. Could our own food supply be targeted? What can we do to protect it and ourselves?

"The Food Frights forum will explore these questions from a variety of perspectives so that we can make better informed and wiser decisions for ourselves, our families, our clients, and our communities," says Zallen.

Keynote speaker Lester Crawford, deputy commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and director of the Center fo
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Contact: Jonson Miller
choices@vt.edu
540-231-6476
Virginia Tech
14-Mar-2002