Ignacio Chapela (born 1959) is a microbial ecologist and mycologist at the University of California, Berkeley. He is best known for a 2001 paper in Nature on the flow of transgenes into wild maize populations, However, a more recent study published in the February 2009 issue of Molecular Ecology confirmed the presence of transgenic DNA in Mexican maize. The study, however, did not confirm an important conclusion from the 2001 Nature paper, namely, that the transgene-contaminated corn has replicated. Chapela is reported to have stated in response to the study, "It is good to see this...but it took seven years."

Disputes with University of California

Chapela objected to an agreement in which the department and faculty of Plant and Microbial Biology at UC Berkeley took money from Novartis in exchange for a degree of publication scrutiny and trade secrecy, taking a strong position on the issue.

Chapela was initially denied tenure at UC Berkeley in 2003, despite a unanimous vote in his favor by an ad hoc tenure committee. Supporters claim that this stems from opposition to Chapela's anti-Novartis activism from Molecular and Cell Biology faculty member Jasper Rine, who was both a member of the tenure committee and in a research relationship with the company. However, Chapela was ultimately awarded tenure in 2005.

Chapela has also spoken out against the deal between UC Berkeley, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and British Petroleum to research the development of biofuels, which may involve genetically engineering microorganisms and plants. The grant went into effect in 2007. The case is detailed in the German documentary Scientists Under Attack: Genetic Engineering in the Magnetic Field of Money.

Activism

Chapela founded The Mycological Facility in Oaxaca state, a facility dealing with questions of natural resources and indigenous rights, and collaborates with indigenous communities in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Ecuador on issues of rights to genetic resources. He is also an advisory board member for The Sunshine Project, an organization promoting citizens' concerns with biosafety and biowarfare.

He has appeared in several films on genetically modified organism and food systems issues, The World According to Monsanto, Symphony of the Soil, and The Future of Food.

Authority name

See also

List of mycologists

References

  • Ignacio Chapela faculty page
  • Chapela lab page
  • Ignacio Chapela CV