GM Foods: Proceed with Caution!

I consider myself a skeptic, a fan of scientific method and a member of the reality-based community. However, I have some reservations about the use of GM crops that are mainly based on distrust of large corporations and their cozy relationship with the US and other governments.

Time and time again, industry has sought to ignore safety regulations and even common sense when profits are threatened. They cannot be trusted. The current administration shows even less enthusiasm than previous ones in enforcing existing regulation, far less implementing new ones. If it doesn’t involve human embryos, heck, it’s a green light all the way!

Simply identifying the risks and applying regulatory lip-service advances the public good not at all. How many superfund messes were left behind for taxpayers to clean up, long after permanent physical damage was done to local residents?

Are there risks involved in the use of GM food? Almost certainly. Have we identified those risks? Probably most of them. Does the potential for catastrophe exist. Again, almost certainly, although it may be small. Can we trust Monsanto and ADM to deploy their products wisely and responsibly? Certainly NOT!

If an airplane crashes, hundreds can be killed. If GM crops cause widespread ecological damage, millions could starve. At some point, the analogy fails. The risk is likely the greatest for the already beleaguered citizens of developing nations, many of whom are trapped in countries with true, predatory governments which won’t for a moment consider the welfare of their populations.

Please consider that ther are human and political issues involved with deployment of GM crops that prevent the reality from approaching the scientific ideal. Are the FDA and OSHA run any better, or with less patronage and cronyism than FEMA? Don't bet your life on it!

It's bad enough that we let the nuclear energy genie out of the bottle. Can you imagine North Korea using agricultural blackmail instead of nuclear blackmail? And it could be a much cheaper and easier blackmail to commit!