Union of Concerned Scientists
Director, Food & Environment Program
1825 K Street, NW
Suite 800
Washington
DCUSA
20006
Biographical Sketch: Margaret Mellon is one of the nation's most respected experts on biotechnology and food safety. She directs the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. The program promotes a transition to sustainable agriculture and focuses on critically evaluating the use of biotechnology in plant and animal agriculture and assessing animal agriculture's contribution to the rise of antibiotic-resistant disease.
Prior to founding this program in 1993, Dr. Mellon was the Director of the Biotechnology Policy Center at the National Wildlife Federation. She holds a doctorate in molecular biology and a law degree from the University of Virginia. She was formerly a research fellow in molecular virology at Purdue University and program director for the Environmental Law Institute.
Dr. Mellon is co-author of Ecological Risks of Engineered Crops and Hogging It!: Estimates of Antimicrobial Abuse in Livestock and co-editor of Now or Never: Serious New Plans to Save a Natural Pest Control. She served on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture and is a visiting professor at the Vermont Law School, where she teaches a popular summer course in biotechnology and the law.
Dr. Mellon lectures widely on sustainable agriculture, biotechnology, and food animal issues and has been a frequent guest on television and radio shows, including The Today Show, Good Morning America and National Public Radio's All Things Considered and Talk of the Nation.
Founded in 1969, the Union of Concerned Scientists is a nonprofit partnership of scientists and citizens combining rigorous scientific analysis, innovative policy development and effective citizen advocacy to achieve practical environmental solutions.