Was OCA Kicked Off SXSW Food Panel Discussion? No.

Next week, GMO Answers will be in Austin to participate in SXSW and we’re really looking forward to discussing GMOs and answering questions about GMOs and how our food is grown. We applied and were accepted as trade show exhibitors, and also submitted a panel through the SXSW Panel Picker, which was accepted into the Southbites track of programming. That panel submission can be found here: http://schedule.sxsw.com/2015/events/event_IAP43132. Panel submissions are open to anyone interested in participating in the events – learn more about how panels are submitted here. http://support.sxsw.com/forums/22261746-PanelPicker 

Today, the Organic Consumers Association issued a statement (https://www.organicconsumers.org/blog/gene-giants-kick-oca-sxsw-food-panel-discussion) saying that GMO Answers had ‘disinvited’ them from participating on our panel. To our knowledge, the OCA was never invited to speak on this panel - we have at no time had any contact with the OCA about this panel or participating on it. The first contact we had with the OCA about the panel was on March 3rd, when I spoke on the phone with Katherine Paul.  

Our panel submission was written and accepted as a two-person conversation with a moderator about “…what defines transparency, what’s widening the divide between those working for it, and the ways we can work together to achieving our common goal.” This panel was not proposed, or accepted, as a “…debate on the health and safety of genetically engineered crops or food containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs)”.  While we imagine this topic will come up during the conversation  – which we welcome - the topic of the panel is the search for common ground. 

While much of the OCA's post mischaracterizes the conversation I had with Katherine on March 3rd,  I do absolutely welcome a debate about the health and safety of GMOs with the OCA or anyone interested in having one. But at SXSW next week, I'm looking forward to having the discussion that was submitted and accepted by SXSW, with Ben & Jerry’s Social Activism Manager, Chris Miller, and moderated with Tamar Haspel of the Washington Post. I hope you’ll join us. 

– Cathleen Enright, Ph.D., executive director of Council for Biotechnology Information and head of GMO Answers