Dr. Channapatna S. Prakash

The article Biotech’s Sparse Harvest said

At the dawn of the era of genetically engineered crops, scientists were envisioning all sorts of healthier and tastier foods, including cancer-fighting tomatoes, rot-resistant fruits, potatoes that would produce healthier French fries and even beans that would not cause flatulence.
 
But so far, most of the genetically modified crops have provided benefits mainly to farmers, by making it easier for them to control weeds and insects…
 
“A lot of companies went into shell shock, I would say, in the past three, four years”, said C. S. Prakash, director of plant biotechnology research at Tuskegee University. “Because of so much opposition, they’ve had to put a lot of projects on the shelf.”
 
Developing nonallergenic products and other healthful crops has also proved to be difficult technically. “Changing the food composition is going to be far trickier than just introducing one gene to provide insect resistance”, said Mr. Prakash, who has promoted agricultural biotechnology on behalf of the industry and the United States government.

Dr. Channapatna S. Prakash is the founder of AgBioWorld Foundation that aims to provide science-based information on agbiotech issues to various stakeholders across the world. This Foundation has received endorsements from over 3,400 scientists from across the world. The AgBioWorld “Declaration in Support of Agricultural Biotechnology” includes 25 Nobel Laureates such as Dr. Norman Borlaug, Dr. James Watson, Dr. Arthur Korenberg, Dr. Marshall Nirenberg, Dr. Peter Doherty, Dr. Paul Berg, Mr. Oscar Arias and Dr. John Boyer. Under the AgBioWorld banner, Prakash has sent petitions and press releases to various fora on emerging issues related to biotechnology, such as the gene flow into Mexican corn landraces, rejection of food aid to Zambia, and the relevance of Golden Rice.
 
Prakash is also Professor in Plant Molecular Genetics and Director of the Center for Plant Biotechnology Research at Tuskegee University, which oversees research on food crops of importance to developing countries and the training of scientists and students in plant biotechnology. Prakash has also been actively involved in enhancing the societal awareness of food biotechnology issues around the world. He recently served on the USDA’s Agricultural Biotechnology Advisory Committee and continues to serve on the Advisory Committee for the Department of Biotechnology for the government of India.
 
His outreach activities also include writing commentaries, delivering public lectures, providing media interviews, and moderating the daily Internet discussion group and newsletter AgBioView which is read by more than 4,000 experts in 55 countries. Prakash has been successful in impacting decision makers, the media and consumers in creating awareness of agbiotech issues, especially on technology development and biosafety issues. He also been instrumental in catalyzing the scientific community in many countries to be more proactive in the biotechnology debate.
 
Prakash has a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and a master’s in genetics from India, and obtained his Ph.D. in forestry/genetics from the Australian National University, Canberra. His research interests include studies on transgenic plants, gene expression, tissue culture and plant genomics. His group at TU has led the development of transgenic sweet potato plants, identification of DNA markers in peanut and the development of a genetic map of cultivated peanut. Recently they enhanced the protein content of crops through genetic modification. He has received funding for his research from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, US Agency for International Development and UNESCO.
 
He serves on the scientific advisory board of the American Council on Science and Health, and also as an Advising Editor to AgBiotechNet, the Journal of New Seeds, Indian Journal of Biotechnology, Food Biotechnology, and the Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology. He serves as the principal investigator of a USAID funded project to promote biotechnology awareness in Africa. He has more than fifty scientific publications in refereed journals and has presented more than 100 papers.
 
Prakash often serves as a speaker on behalf of the U.S. State Department and has traveled to many nations across the globe to deliver public lectures, interacting with the media and meet with policymakers, scientists, activists and trade experts. His speaking venues include the United Nations, the Vatican, and the US Congress, and he is widely sought as a speaker in international