GMO apparently stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. For the purposes of this post I really only care about the crop type of organism. Any sort we eat, so I guess cows could count, or whatever.
I’m making this post cause I had a discussion with Lauren about the subject. She asked the questions and I angrily spewed the answers. She’s in Europe, where people are most afraid of GM anything, so that’s why she got to ask the questions.
So, I think GMO’s are good, and that the Europeans opposed to them are douche bags. Let’s try and explain why.
Issue #1: We don’t know the long term effects!
Response: So? I suspect that won’t be satisfactory for many, so I’ll elaborate.
First, we don’t know the long term effects of anything. The Europeans accept cell phones and pills and food additives like the rest of the modern world, so what’s the deal? The stuff in GM food is not completely foreign. Usually it’s just more of the stuff that was there before. Possibly it’s something from another food, like fish proteins in tomatoes, or whatever. But it’s safe in a fish, what’s the big deal with eating it in a tomato.
Second, if you’re worried about the environmental impact, which frankly makes more sense than personal health risk, there are many strict regulations about the development and production of GM crops, to attempt to eliminate any negative environmental impacts. But even if they fail, the impact of not having GM crops is not zero. GM crops reduces the amount of land humans need to occupy with farms, so it’s good for the environment in that regard. Also, GM crops can be grown in more varied climates, allowing food to be grown closer to where it is needed, reducing the impact of transporting the goods. GM crops resist pests on their own, meaning farmers don’t have to spray pesticides, a far more efficient and environmentally friendly way of maximizing crop yields. GM crops can last longer on shelves, meaning less waste, also environmentally beneficial. Oh, and btw, lots of people are starving and GM crops could fix that, so a risk to the environment might be worth taking.
Third, it’s not like there’s no testing going on as to the safety of the these foods. GM foods are regulated by more agencies in the US than anywhere, and subject to stricter standards than any other type of thing we put into our bodies. Those of us who eat GM food have been doing so without noticeable impact for more than a decade, so that’s something, right?
Fourth, it’s not like non-GM food is exactly natural. We’ve been using artificial selection to modify the genetics of our food since well before we new the earth was round. Cows don’t exist in nature. The seedless grape is basically an evolutionary impossibility, if it weren’t for us tinkering. We’ve done it the old way for millennia and we’ve survived, and the old way is dangerously inefficient and messy. In trying to positively affect a few traits we may be negatively affecting hundreds of others without even knowing, which just can’t happen with the new GM technologies.
Issue #2: What if I’m allergic?
Response: The only way you’d be allergic to a GM food is if they transferred a gene that’s product you were allergic to already into a new food, which could technically happen. They will try really hard not to do that, though, because the goal is to make food more edible, not less. In fact, with GM technologies, they’ll soon have allergen free versions of the foods most commonly causing serious allergic reactions.
You are less likely to be allergic to GM food than anything else you eat that you’ve never tried before. Oh yeah, and millions of people are starving, maybe you could suck it up.
Issue #3: There’s already enough food, it just doesn’t get distributed correctly.
Response: Resounding SO? Who cares if there is enough food? Fact is, if there were more, it would be easier to distribute, and cheaper to buy. Also, just cause there’s enough food now, doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea to plan ahead. There’ll be an extra 3 billion people on the planet pretty soon, and I bet they would like to eat the same amount as I would. Not to mention potential problems caused by climate change.
We should work on figuring out how to move food around better, but that’s a separate issue from whether GM foods are a safe and good idea. And GM foods could help with the issue, making foods that travel better, grow in more locations, and increasing the amount of food we have available to move if we need to.
Issue #4: The problem is that food is too expensive, and GM seeds are the most expensive of all.
Response: Well, this also has nothing to do with it’s efficacy and safety, but I’ll address the concern anyway.
First, not always true. If it was then GM food would be more expensive than normal food, and it’s not. If it was more expensive, then nobody would care, and this whole discussion wouldn’t even exist.
Second, in the cases where it is true that poor farmers can’t afford the seeds the fact that Europe is not buying the product of those seeds can’t be helping. The purchasing power of Europe, also it’s proximity to many poor nations, could have a dramatic impact on the cost benefit calculation. Also, European trade policy has several unfavorable implications for nations that try and export GM foods that act as further disincentives against the poor to take the initial risk and grow the crops they could use to feed their less fortunate countrymen, or yield enough to finally move beyond subsistence living.
Douche baggy Europeans, and the hippy Americans buying “organic” have used their wealth to opt to spend more to irrationally avoid “weird” GM crops and in so doing have chosen for others to starve to death. And now, as the financial price of their decision grows, they are beginning to flip, revealing that they are not willing to sacrifice more than a few mocha lattes a week for your “principles”, proving they either didn’t have any to begin with, or that they don’t really hold them strongly. Certainly not strongly enough to justify contributing to the whole starving children problem.
So, in conclusion, there are millions of people starving to death and GM crops would help. I win.