The Ethicurean on Genetically Modified Food Crops

The Ethicurean delivers an excellent overview of the current GMO debate by drawing parallels to the climate change debate. The piece discusses the knowledge gap that keeps the scientific community from listening to growing public concerns:

Writes technology reporter Denise Caruso in her excellent book, “Intervention: Confronting the Real Risks of Genetic Engineering and Life on a Biotech Planet“: As long as scientists can justifiably “declare that we, the innumerate public, lack the mental capacity to understand what they, the experts, do…there can be no common ground for understanding between those who create risk and we who must bear it.”

This same reactive mentality is also prevelant in many of the farmer-consumer dialogs I’ve been involved in, where the knowledge gap between farm-and-plate has grown so wide that consumers sound uninformed and/or ignorant when discussing food. Making matters worse is Monsanto’s actions in insulating GMO researchers through funding and lobbying:

“…persuasive case that the transgenic seed industry is built on fundamentally flawed science, and that companies like Monsanto have used their vast market power to reshape university research, manipulate public opinion, and coerce regulatory agencies into reckless acceptance of risky technologies. And that scientists have looked the other way while they did so.”

Read more at The Ethicurean blog about everyday Americans slowly cooking in a giant pot of GMO water, thanks in no small part to companies like Monsanto.

Jump Frog, Jump!