[ExI] gmo news

Dave S sparge at gmail.com
Sun Jan 2 14:00:18 UTC 2022


On Fri, Dec 31, 2021 at 5:43 PM William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

>
> https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2021/12/17/5-reasons-why-the-gmo-debate-is-over/
> ?
>

I'm not anti GMO, but this is just propaganda.

1. They’re safe.
They're not inherently safe. There haven't been any catastrophic failures
yet, but they could happen. Even without GMO disasters there are questions
about the impact of GMOs on the environment and the agriculture industry,
at least.

2. The conversation around GMOs is both shrinking and increasingly positive
in tone.
Granted, most people support GMOs--or at least don't oppose them. But that
doesn't mean the debate is over.

3. Young people support biotechnology.
So what? The pro-GMO debate will be over when the old people are gone?

4. Farmers love GMO crops.
Of course they do. They're designed to make farming more profitable (while
the GMO makers take a slice of the profits.) GMOs are good for Cargill,
Monsanto, General Foods, and other major corporations in the government
agricultural complex, but it's less clear that they're overall positive for
farmers and consumers.

5. Opposition in Europe has eased.
So what? This is the same as #2.

GMOs are tools, and like any other tools they can be used well or used
poorly. We should strive to ensure that they're being used wisely.
Improving the debate would help ensure that. Declaring the debate over is
an attempt to bypass a layer of oversight.

-Dave
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