Food Dive interviews Camire about research funding controversy
Mary Ellen Camire, a University of Maine professor of food science and human nutrition and past president of the Institute of Food Technologists, was quoted in a Food Dive article on the controversy surrounding funding for genetic modification research. “I hate to see anybody just rule out genetic modification outright because it’s evil. It’s how you use it. A car is not evil unless you plow it through a crowd of people,” Camire said. She said she thinks science and industry can meet without controversy, and highlighted work by the American Society for Nutrition which brought together the Institute of Food Technologists and other organizations to discuss public-private partnerships in research for food and nutrition, according to the article. “Unfortunately, I think some people just distrust big industry in general and anyone who’s gotten funding from them,” Camire said. “It’s more of a perception issue than a real issue in bias I think.”