It saddened me to read Mark Phillipson’s commentary published in the TGI Forum on Oct. 31. The uninformed reader would agree with the thesis put forward, i.e., that scientific organizations and government agencies attest to the safety of GMOs, so
It saddened me to read Mark Phillipson’s commentary published in the TGI Forum on Oct. 31.
The uninformed reader would agree with the thesis put forward, i.e., that scientific organizations and government agencies attest to the safety of GMOs, so they must be safe. Therein lies the dual tragedy: first, that the proponents of GMOs in industry, academia and government have so systematically twisted the truth and subverted science and public policy in the interests of profit and the economy; and second, that it worked, and as a result, the public is largely uniformed because one has to dig so deep to find the truth.
Fortunately, Steven Druker in his book “Altered Genes, Twisted Truth” has done a remarkable job of exposing the desultory, fraud-filled history of the development of policies and laws related to GMOs and I urge everyone to read it now — get it at Amazon.com.
People need to know that the opinions expressed by many scientific groups that support GMOs are not science-based, but policy-based, i.e., they do not draw on sound science but rather are more accurately characterized as statements of policy intended to ensure that research funding and profits continued to flow.
Much of the molecular biology establishment has a direct economic interest in GMOs, and it was this conflict of interest that so perverted the GMO regulatory regime. The GMO industry and its supporters in government have become proficient at “policy-based science making” while claiming to be using “science-based policy/decision making.”
People need to know that existing laws and policies regarding GMOs do not reflect the input of scientists that point to risks. Why? Because U.S. law does not require government policymakers and lawmakers to act on the advice of their own scientists.
The Royal Society of Canada is one august, national scientific organization that has concluded that GMOs do indeed pose many risks and need to be more tightly regulated to protect public health, the environment and the agriculture industry. To understand how this scientific organization can come up with such a different conclusion, one has only to look at the affiliations of the members of the panel that performed the review and compare it to members of panels that produced reports favorable to the industry.
It is time to put an end to the lies and misrepresentations, to the poisoning of earth, water, people and all life forms so that a few mega-corporations can control the world food supply. Happily, there exist profitable, ecologically sound, regenerative methods of food production that we the people can support until government sheds it addiction to GMOs. We don’t need GMOs; the world doesn’t need GMOs — only the GMO industry needs GMOs.
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Michael Coon, M.Sc. (Marine Biologist), of Koloa.