Former GMO Engineer Drops Biotech and Goes Organic by Ken Roseboro

Thierry Vrain, Ph.D
 

Source:  http://organicconnectmag.com/wp/former-gmo-engineer-drops-biotech-and-goes-organic/

Former GMO Engineer Drops Biotech and Goes Organic

by Ken Roseboro

Organic Connections Magazine,  June 2013

The “con­ver­sion” of for­mer anti-GMO activist Mark Lynas to GMO pro­moter has gar­nered huge media atten­tion, but Thierry Vrain, Ph.D., a for­mer genetic engi­neer who speaks out against the risks of genet­i­cally engi­neered foods, has far more credibility—and a far more impor­tant story to tell the public.

Thierry Vrain’s career has spanned the full range of agriculture—from being a pro­po­nent of “chem­i­cal” agri­cul­ture and genetic engi­neer­ing to being an advo­cate for organic farm­ing and an oppo­nent of GMOs.

A native of France, Vrain earned an under­grad­u­ate degree in plant phys­i­ol­ogy from the Université de Caen and a doc­toral degree from North Carolina State University. After mov­ing to Canada he taught plant phys­i­ol­ogy at Université du Québec in Montréal. Then he worked for 30 years as a research sci­en­tist for the Canadian gov­ern­ment in Québec and British Columbia where he con­ducted research on genet­i­cally mod­i­fied pota­toes, among other projects. He was direc­tor of the biotech­nol­ogy depart­ment at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre in Summerland, BC.

After 35 years of research and teach­ing of soil and mol­e­c­u­lar biol­ogy, Vrain retired to a small farm in Courtenay, BC called Innisfree. Today, Thierry Vrain is a gar­dener, a teacher, and a pas­sion­ate speaker about organic gardening—from soil health to GMOs.
 

 

To read the entire article, please click on the link provided below:

 

Organic Connections Magazine