For some reason, Dion Giles posted this in the thread about the "Pass The Butter" hoax. That's utter nonsense, of course. Typical "Chicken Little" claims by anti-GMO folks. Look - no one is against free choice or free speech, but it has to be based on FACTS, not conjecture, not lies. This is SCIENCE, not creative writing! This is my response : 1. What's there to label? First of all, NONE of the foods we consume today is natural. Everything we eat today was genetically modified in some way, whether it's by direct genetic modification or more "traditional" methods like hybridisation, chemical and radioactive mutagenesis. If you want honest labelling, then LABEL EVERYTHING. All produce or food products should be labelled, whether they were created by direct GM, hybridisation, somaclonal variation, chemical mutagenesis, radioactive mutagenesis, selective breeding, cloning, etc. 2. All this ire over GM is because of fear, not labelling. Fear of the unknown, fear because of ignorance. If people are worried about labelling, well then, just don't buy anything that is not certified organic or non-GM in nature. Simple. I find it ironic that anti-GM folks are so obsessed about the "dangers" of GM foods, yet they studiously ignore the dangers of more traditional methods. Direct genetic modification is actually a SAFER method of modifying food. It allows scientists to add only the genes they want, no more, no less. Other methods, like chemical / radioactive mutagenesis or hybridisation, have no such certainty. No one is really sure what mutations have occurred, or what genes have changed, what genes have been activated or deactivated, and so on. Even worse, other methods do NOT go through the same testing process and certification by the US FDA that GM foods have to undergo. Aren't you concerned about such lackadaisal attitude to creating newer and better versions of our foods? 3. The GM industry does NOT dictate what people buy. Have you EVER been forced to buy GM foods? You don't even have to buy your food from any supermarket. You can grow them, or buy only from certified organic producers, if you prefer. It's a free world, and no one is dictating to anyone what to buy. 4. There is no such thing as "allowing GM seeds to contaminate" non-GM fields. GM companies are in the business of selling seeds to farmers. They wouldn't be able to make money if they intentionally "contaminate" non-GM fields, would they? In fact, when a farmer buys GM seeds, he has to specifically agree NOT to reuse the harvest to replant his fields. He has to agree to buy new seeds from the GM seed company. It is in the GM seed company's interest NOT to allow any seeds to be planted unless they were purchased from them. 5. I agree with you that direct genetic modification of the genetic structure of a plant is NOT the same as natural crossbreeding. Genetic engineering is a far, far more PRECISE method for creating a safer and better plant than crossbreeding it. When scientists add a particular gene to the genome of a plant, that's all that is added. No more, no less. You know exactly what was added. When you do cross-breeding, the genes of the final variant will be a mix of the genes of the original two variants, with far greater variability in genotype and phenotype; and you have less of an idea of what changed, or remain unchanged. 6. I agree to better labelling though. But instead of labelling GM foods, it would be better to label NON-GM foods, just like how organic foods are labelled. That's good enough for those who are too ignorant or paranoid to consider GM foods. With those Non-GM labels, then you have no reason to claim that the GM industry is dictating to you what you can or cannot buy. You will have more than enough information to select the non-GM foods you prefer. Labelling GM foods is wrong, not because we want to hide the fact that they were directly modified genetically, but because it unfairly stigmatises them. The more ethical way would be to label non-GM foods, like how organic foods are labelled today. It imparts a more positive image to non-GMO foods, but does not unnecessarily stigmatise GMO foods. So before you call for the labelling of GMO foods, be honest. Do you really just want to be informed so you can make your own choices, or you just want to stigmatise GMO foods and indirectly deny other people the right to make a choice for themselves?
