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Anti-GMO Activist Recants

Freddybear writes "Former anti-GMO activist Mark Lynas, who opposed genetically modified food in the 1990s, said recently, at the Oxford Farming Conference: 'I want to start with some apologies. For the record, here and upfront, I apologize for having spent several years ripping up GM crops. I am also sorry that I helped to start the anti-GM movement back in the mid 1990s, and that I thereby assisted in demonizing an important technological option which can be used to benefit the environment. As an environmentalist, and someone who believes that everyone in this world has a right to a healthy and nutritious diet of their choosing, I could not have chosen a more counter-productive path. I now regret it completely. So I guess you'll be wondering — what happened between 1995 and now that made me not only change my mind but come here and admit it? Well, the answer is fairly simple: I discovered science, and in the process I hope I became a better environmentalist.' To vilify GMOs is to be as anti-science as climate-change deniers, he says. To feed a growing world population (with an exploding middle class demanding more and better-quality food), we must take advantage of all the technology available to us, including GMOs. To insist on 'natural' agriculture and livestock is to doom people to starvation, and there’s no logical reason to prefer the old ways, either. Moreover, the reason why big companies dominate the industry is that anti-GMO activists and policymakers have made it too difficult for small startups to enter the field."

4 of 758 comments (clear)

  1. Re:GMO problems nothing to do with science by tekrat · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't worry... If we get hungry enough, we'll eat the Monsanto Board of Directors....

    --
    If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
  2. Re:This is a rare breed of human. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Platonic model of the universe? Really?

    Really. How ridiculous was that. Everyone knows the model of the universe is purely sexual.

  3. Re:This is a rare breed of human. by BoberFett · · Score: 4, Funny

    Right? Nobody eats Jews, the meat is way to stringy...

  4. Re:This is a rare breed of human. by DRJlaw · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thanks for the red herring.

    Those should be labeled too. The damn grocery store insists upon merely labeling them as "herring," or the more insidious "pickled herring."