General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Neil deGrasse Tyson Tells GMO Critics to "Chill Out" [View all]mike_c
(36,281 posts)GMO crops (in the modern sense) have been cultivated for decades and marketed for 20 years. The anti-GMO movement began as a backlash to "scientists playing God" with the premise that with that sort of power comes the virtual assurance that tragedy will ensue. Except that it hasn't. And the majority of the worlds scientific and medical organizations-- the folks who we either admit are knowledgeable about these matters or whom we reject as incompetent in favor of internet blogs and scaremongers-- have gone on record in support of GMOs. At some point we have to recognize that the bogeyman didn't materialize. Science was right. Again.
Much of the anti-GMO movement needs to repurpose itself as the anti-corporate bad citizenship movement. At least that's an honest assessment of the situation in real life.
To a large extent GMO foods ARE treated with similar due diligence to drugs. In spite of that, none of the feared tragedies have occurred, and the anti-GMO movement, like so many similar anti-intellectual movements, blames a lack of diligence because they just KNOW that the tragedies are out there somewhere, being covered up by untrustworthy scientists and unscrupulous business people. Except they're not. They're just not.