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	Copyright SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE PUBLISHING COMPANY Jun 21, 2001 Conflicting perspectives on biotech conference Re: "City, protesters ready for biotech meeting" (B-1, June 17): After reading yet another article promoting those who oppose biotech progress, I wondered why your paper continues to glorify the activities of these protesters. I teach biotechnology at San Diego High School and throughout the school year I continually reference articles in your paper that describe the great breakthroughs in medical and agricultural biotechnology. The only material I have read recently regarding the coming biotechnology conference, Bio2001, has been related to the eminent destruction that will occur with the arrival of anti-biotech terrorists. Why does the Union-Tribune continue to glorify these protesters? Why not write about the advancements in biotechnology that will be presented at the coming meeting? My best friend's life is being saved by biotechnology. He was fortunate to receive a novel vaccine based on a highly reactive protein from a giant keyhole limpet (mollusk) to eradicate his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Agricultural biotechnology is providing more food for the annual 800 million malnourished people in the world. Are any of these protesters malnourished? They are being fed an excess of press and I doubt they are starving. JAY VAVRA Department of Biology, San Diego High School The coming international biotechnology industry conference in San Diego and the planned demonstrations around it should serve as a wake- up call. The biotech industry is threatening the world with ideas out of sci-fi movies -- like designer babies, the patenting of natural processes, and genetic engineering of our food. A handful of corporations with the primary motives of profit and control are pushing the insanity. Scientific progress must be harnessed for the causes of democracy and sustainability, not to further enrich a few giant multinationals. If we want a healthy future for our children and the planet, we have to reject corporate ownership of life itself. To begin addressing this critical issue, we need a real public dialogue that cuts through the propaganda of the multimillion dollar biotech PR machine. Let's hope the coming demonstrations at the biotech conference ignite a debate about how we can best put the power to shape our future back where it belongs -- in our communities. ADAM HURTER San Diego

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