OUTGOING Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman has painted a disturbing portrait of his department's boosterish attitude toward genetically modified foods. At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one of three agencies charged with overseeing biotech foods, a no-questions-asked attitude prevails, Mr. Glickman said.

If there is one thing that can be unequivocally stated about biotechnology, it is that questions need to be asked. But in a recent interview with the Post-Dispatch, Mr. Glickman said that voicing objections to biotechnology was considered "almost immoral" at the USDA, and that those who do so are branded "Luddites, you're stupid ... You felt like you were almost an alien, disloyal, by trying to present an open-minded view of some of the issues being raised."

As Ann Veneman, a strong proponent of biotechnology who served on the board of a Monsanto subsidiary, takes over Mr. Glickman's post as agriculture secretary, it is especially critical that her department address these questions openly. And given the backdrop painted by Mr. Glickman, that will take some doing. Questions about biotechnology were barely mentioned during Ms. Veneman's Senate confirmation hearings -- a baffling oversight, given her ties to the industry.

Unlike the success of biotechnology in the development of new drugs, the great promise of biotechnology in developing new foods has stumbled badly, due precisely to this full-speed-ahead, closed-rank arrogance that took hold in the early 1990's. Even Monsanto president Hendrik Verfaillie recently admitted the company had been "blinded by enthusiasm" and "missed the fact that this technology raises major issues for people -- issues of ethics, of choice, of trust, even of democracy and globalization."

Along with modified corn and soybeans, biotech companies have planted seeds of distrust. On one hand they have talked about eliminating world hunger. But what came to market instead were products consumers were suspicious of -- hormone-laced milk, "Terminator" seed technology and StarLink corn, a type of corn approved for use in animal feed but not yet approved for human consumption. StarLink showed up in taco shells, triggering massive recalls and more consumer distrust.

Biotech companies have created their own uphill battle to demonstrate the technology's safety and value in the food supply. "Food biotech is dead," Henry Miller told The New York Times; Mr. Miller handled biotechnology issues at the Food and Drug Administration from 1979 to 1994. "The potential now is an infinitesimal fraction of what most observers had hoped it would be," he said.

It is not too late to recapture that potential if problems, questions and fears are dealt with openly. Ms. Veneman, a farmer's daughter and free trade advocate, is an eminently qualified agriculture secretary who wins praise from both political parties. Among her toughest challenges will be insisting on a shift in her department's attitude, to encourage rather than stifle questions and public debate on biotech issues.

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