Ice-Minus strawberries, Flavr Savr tomatoes, and science literacy: the disconnect between science and the public

"Breeding a better ketchup: Tomato tinkerers plan gene-altered condiments", "They're fiddling with our food, " "Allergy dangers lurk in gene mix": for over a decade headlines have questioned the safety of biotechnology-produced food products. Biotechnologists themselves have been portrayed as greedy and amoral. Why is biotechnology receiving such alarmist press? Why do biotechnology opponents seem to more easily convert the public to their own "truths" when at the same time many scientific pronouncements seem to be met from the start with suspicion? One proposed solution is to raise the level of science literacy for the non-scientifically trained, but will an ability to recite science facts ameliorate the problem? There is growing recognition that poor communication between scientists and the public is a major root of the disconnect. This panel paper uses the Ice-Minus and Flavr Savr cases to examine Daniel E. Koshland Jr.'s statement that "there are two truths in this world: one of the laboratory, and the other of the media. What people perceive as the truth is truer in a democracy than some grubby little experiment in a laboratory notebook". The paper will address ways to forge a real connection between the public and biotechnology.