Late last week USA Today’s Life & Fitness section included a 1052-word attack on genetically-modified (GM) foods in the guise of an objective look at their increasing use. Tellingly, the article was headed, “Shoppers wary of GM foods find they’re everywhere.”
Typical of the level of thought in the article was this passage:
Many of these [GM food] opponents acknowledge that there isn't much solid evidence showing genetically modified foods are somehow dangerous or unhealthy. It just doesn't seem right, they say.
The article then went on to quote at some length an assortment of GM food critics. A number of these people were interested parties representing the organic food industry, which markets itself as an alternative to GM food.
ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross comments:
Where to begin on this insidiously slanted article? Just as labels are not allowed on "hormone free" milk since the hormones in milk are all the same whether synthetic or "natural," biotech crops are no more dissimilar to traditional crops than current corn and wheat are to those of a century ago’s inferior versions. Are they safe? The regulatory hurdles GM crops have to surmount are far greater than you can imagine, and they have done so for 15 years without a single valid report of harm to humans, animals or the environment. The bogus "monarch butterfly" scare drew widespread media attention a decade ago based on nothing — imagine if a real harm were detected — yet nothing has happened although GM crops are now planted and harvested around the globe. The main exception is Europe, which clings to its superstitions while agricultural progress passes it by without a second look. The "growing network" opposing GM is imaginary — [and] the folks in that camp should be treated like anti-vaccine fanatics, who also "feel that something isn't right." But vaccines have eradicated fearsome childhood scourges, and GM technology has the potential to reduce world hunger and provide essential nutrients for the impoverished. Don't let biotech food become this century's DDT, banned for no reason at a frightful cost in African lives.