STEVEN M. DRUKER, J.D.
Executive Director, Alliance for Bio-Integrity
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Steven M. Druker is the founder and executive director of the Alliance for Bio-Integrity, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting technologies that foster human and environmental health and addressing the problems of those that do not. The Alliance's first major project is to gain a more rational and responsible policy on the use of genetic engineering. As executive director of the Alliance, Mr. Druker organized a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to obtain adequate safety testing and labeling of all genetically engineered foods. In doing so, he assembled an unprecedented coalition of eminent scientists and religious leaders to stand as plaintiffs. The suit was filed in May, 1998 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. in collaboration with the Center for Food Safety.
Since founding the Alliance in 1996, Mr. Druker has become known as one of the leading figures discussing the problems of genetically engineered foods, viewed from both the scientific and the spiritual/ethical perspectives. He has been invited to speak at many conferences and appear on several expert panels, including the food safety panel at a conference held by the National Research Council in Washington, D.C. in May, 1999 and the panel on scientific, safety and regulatory issues at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Public Meeting in Washington, D.C. in November, 1999. In January, 1998 he was invited to the White House Executive Offices to discuss the environmental risks of agricultural biotechnolgy with the Interagency Sustainable Development Indicator Group of the President's Council on Environmental Quality. In February, 2000 he was invited to address a special meeting for members of parliament held at the House of Commons in London and was also invited to appear at a press conference at the Scottish Parliament building. He has appeared on several nationally broadcast radio programs in both the U.S. and the U.K., and he has been invited to speak to religious audiences and contribute articles to religious publications (both Christian and Jewish).
Besides practicing law, he has devoted substantial time to the study of human development and ethics and has lectured extensively in these fields at universities and for professional groups. He co-authored the introductory and final chapters of Higher Stages of Human Development, published by Oxford University Press, and wrote a chapter on ethical development for Transcendence and Mature Thought in Adulthood, published by Rowman and Littlefield.
He received his Juris Doctor from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was elected to the California Law Review and to the Order of the Coif (the legal honor society). He also received his B.A. from U.C. Berkeley. He majored in philosophy, received a special award for "Outstanding Accomplishment" in that field, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, and graduated with "Great Distinction in General Scholarship."
HEALTH RISKS OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS