To the Editor,
Re: GMO leaves a sour taste, Letters, Sept. 3.
Most of society is unable to distinguish between the real science of GMOs and the prolific pseudo-science that is designed to scare, not educate.
Health Canada said it well: “The overwhelming body of scientific evidence continues to support the safety of genetically modified food and feed products in general.”
Unfortunately the emotive arguments against these safe crops and food are rarely satisfied by the real science. Using catchy phrases like “rogue proteins” that are “obviously allergenic or toxic” make for good fear stories. But they fall apart when examined by the extensive regulatory evaluations on all GMOs before they are allowed to be commercialized.
For example, GM crops are the only food crops tested for potential allergen content. Three trillion meals with GM ingredients have been consumed without so much as a stuffy nose documented.
Farmers are no more forced to buy Monsanto seed then they are forced to plant certain crops. There are 60,000 seed varieties available to purchase. Farmers continue to buy GM seeds because, according to a National Academy of Sciences 2010 report, they received “significant economic and environmental benefits” from doing so.
There are decades of real research from around the world that led to the American Association for the Advancement of Science saying: “consuming foods containing ingredients derived from GM crops is no riskier than consuming the same foods containing ingredients from crop plants modified by conventional plant improvement techniques.”
GM crops and food are not a panacea nor are they dangerous as people would have the public believe. They are one of the many types of agriculture that the world will need in the coming decades.
Robert WagerNanaimo