CSI: Miami Features Foodborne Illness Investigation
A recent episode of CSI: Miami has reportedly drawn criticism from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and other trade groups for the show’s portrayal of a foodborne illness investigation. Titled “Bad Seed,” the October 20, 2009, installment of the popular CBS drama focused on a fictional outbreak that eventually led the crime scene investigators to discover, not only the origin of a deadly new E. coli strain, but a feedlot using genetically modified (GM) corn. According to the Agricultural Law blog, the plot also covered a wide range of legal issues such as Veggie Libel laws, organic standards, pollen drift and genetic contamination, farmer liability for unauthorized GM crops, undocumented farm workers, farm consolidation, and crop contamination via irrigation water. Plaintiffs’ attorney Bill Marler reportedly provided CBS producers background information for the episode. See Agricultural Law, October 20, 2009
Both the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) have since issued statements refuting CSI: Miami’s take on biotechnology and food safety. While the beef trade group advised the industry to “remember that many fans of the show are less caught up in the details of the cases as they are the interplay and relationships among the characters,” one NCGA spokesperson described the “convoluted” episode as “trying to link together E. coli, water pollution from a cattle feedlot, botulism and genetic engineering in corn into a single plot line that came off looking like a spoof of a bad ‘70s cop show.” See USA Today, October 20, 2009; Corn Commentary, October 21, 2009; The Truth About Trade & Technology, October 23, 2009.
“The only crime on last night’s episode . . . was a poor script and even worse research,” stated NCGA senior communications manager Mark Lambert in an October 21 article on the Corn Commentary blog. “Apparently the creative well of ideas on novel ways to send people to the great beyond must have dried up in season eight. With more versions of CSI than there are television networks, I guess this was bound to happen.”
