Mark Lynas has an article in today’s New York Times entitled “How I Got Converted to G.M.O. Food.” The article makes the point, which I have seen before, that liberals who accept scientific evidence on global warming, refuse to accept that GMO (genetically modified organisms) foods are safe to eat.
I don’t think climate change and GMOs are necessary analogous, but I don’t have any problem with eating GMO foods. I really don’t.
Nonetheless, I do object to GMO foods that are developed for a particular herbicide, like Roundup Ready soybeans and corn. Those seeds are not developed to decrease hunger or increase corn yield, they are developed to make money for Monsanto or other chemical companies. When farmers can be sued for saving and replanting GMO seeds, that is just wrong.
Secondly, I don’t see a problem with labeling GMO products. It may be irrational, but some people might not want to eat GMO foods any more than they want eggs produced by chickens in tiny cages or pigs produced in gestation pens.
The American agricultural industry (and it is an industry) has a lot to answer for--cruelty, laws that try to prevent publicity on questionable farm practices, antibiotics in feed, and attempts to drive out family farmers. If people want to eat foods that come from crops that are not GMOs, give them that right.
Just label G M O foods as such. Let the people decide if they want to consume the food. It's the same as anything else in the marketplace. If I don't care for a particular product, I don't buy it.
ReplyDeleteExactly. We label calories and ingredients. Why not GMO foods? Let the consumer decide.
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