I am an ISU student who is involved in bringing attention to the transgenic banana research effort that is going on at Iowa State. I learned about this research by reading an open letter that was written to the study funders Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, lead ISU researcher Dr. Wendy White, and the ISU Human Institutional Review Board, challenging the GMO banana feeding trials that are taking place at Iowa State. A group of students have organized the Transgenic Bananas: A dialogue on ethics, impacts and alternatives event at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Memorial Union to further discuss the complexity of this research and have invited a diverse group of perspectives on the issue.

This open letter, signed by more than 120 international organizations, is challenging the feeding trials of the GM ‘super banana’ for a few key reasons. This GM banana, which has been genetically modified to produce extra beta-carotene, which is converted to vitamin A in the human body, is purportedly being designed in order to address hunger and malnutrition in Uganda and Eastern Africa. The letter authors claim that there are serious risks to consider when assessing the safety of this banana for human consumption. They suggest that the study design is woefully inadequate, asking, “what firm conclusions can be drawn from feeding trials of young people residing in the United States for poor rural farmers and consumers in Africa, given all the differences in lifestyle and diets between these two populations?” Signatories suggest that the intended end-use cultural as well as dietary considerations should be a part of the research design. The critical challenge to this research suggests that there are better ways to address malnutrition by saying, “these crops divert resources away from more locally appropriate and controlled agricultural solutions to nutritional concerns.”