Food For thought

[araisha151]

"Food Security" is a thinly veiled campaign in favour of genetic engineering. After being given the facts about the trouble we are in, "more than one in seven people do not have access to sufficient protein and energy in their diet, and even more suffer from some form of micronutrient malnourishment."(1) We are given solutions to help us “close the yield gap” (6) which essentially is the amount of food produced compared to what makes it to the dinner table. The authors argue that there is a “clearly considerable scope for increasing production limits.”(18) It is here they introduce what they see as successes of the “Green Revolution” (19) where genetic modification is used to make more sustainable crops. Genetically modifying plants and animals for the purpose of increasing output is not a feasible option. The authors state that there is a major issue with people lacking micronutrients, but studies have shown that food that is genetically modified is not as nutritious as natural products. In fact, a former research scientist for Agriculture Canada, Thierry Vrain, has stated “These studies show that proteins produced by engineered plants are different than what they should be. Inserting a gene in a genome using this technology can and does result in damaged proteins. The scientific literature is full of studies showing that engineered corn and soya contain toxic or allergenic proteins.” (1) How are we helping people become healthier by promoting foods that have toxicity? It is arrogant of science to start offering as a solution something that we have barely begun to explore. And to offer it as a world wide solution for food shortages is foolish and short sighted. What if a certain strain of GM product creates a new disease or causes death? Most attempts that we have seen humankind take in modifying nature has ended badly. We can look to David Suzuki, a known environmentalist but who’s also a geneticist for the grounding that we need in this lofty venture. “When we create new organisms, new products, and release them in the wild, in our food, in our drugs, we simply don't know enough to anticipate what the consequences will be." (2)

(1) Thierry Vrain, a former research scientist for Agriculture Canada- http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/05/28/gmo-dangers.aspx May 28, 2013.
(2) Frank Diller, American Scientist, 'An Interview with David Suzuki’
http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/david-suzuki


Discussion Question: Are you in favour of GM products?