Stop Bashing GMO Food, Say 109 Nobel Laureates (nytimes.com)

The New York Times reports: More than 100 Nobel laureates have a message for Greenpeace: Quit the G.M.O.-bashing. Genetically modified organisms and foods are a safe way to meet the demands of a ballooning global population, the 109 laureates wrote in a letter posted online and officially unveiled at a news conference on Thursday in Washington, D.C...

"Scientific and regulatory agencies around the world have repeatedly and consistently found crops and foods improved through biotechnology to be as safe as, if not safer than those derived from any other method of production," the group of laureates wrote. "There has never been a single confirmed case of a negative health outcome for humans or animals from their consumption. Their environmental impacts have been shown repeatedly to be less damaging to the environment, and a boon to global biodiversity."
Slashdot reader ArmoredDragon writes: As an echo to that comment, one of the key benefits of GMO is increased crop yield, which means a reduced need for deforestation to make way for farmland. GMO food such as Golden Rice, which improves the micronutrient content of rice, and Low Acrylamide Spuds, which are potatoes engineered to have reduced carcinogen content compared to their natural counterparts, can possibly solve many health problems that are inherent with consuming non-GMO produce. And for those concerned about patent-related issues, many of these patents have recently expired, which means anybody can freely grow them and sell the seeds without the need to pay any royalties.

Comments

you should also post the response Greanpeace gave

[gerddie]

One should always hear both sides, and this article does exactly this with an update. About the bashing of ‘Golden’ rice Greenpeace says:

Accusations that anyone is blocking genetically engineered ‘Golden’ rice are false. ‘Golden’ rice has failed as a solution and isn’t currently available for sale, even after more than 20 years of research. As admitted by the International Rice Research Institute, it has not been proven to actually address Vitamin A Deficiency. So to be clear, we are talking about something that doesn’t even exist.

And about alternatives;

The only guaranteed solution to fix malnutrition is a diverse healthy diet. Providing people with real food based on ecological agriculture not only addresses malnutrition, but is also a scaleable solution to adapt to climate change.

Re:Quit it already!

[Anonymous Coward]

what? Now we can grow round up ready corn for free? I personally wouldnt want the round up in my water and now we have the superweeds that don't respond anyways. Now those questionable genes are out there to pollute the corn. Do those genes without the roundup provide added fitness considering the way they were added? Do you know why the Svalbard Global Seed Vault exists or who runs it?

Re:Or bash it with actual proof...

[reboot246]

Hear this ----> glyphosate resistant weeds.

Don't go playing God until you know what you're doing.

Re:Quit it already!

[doom]

I'm "anti GMO". At least according to the pro-GMO activists. I want accurate food labels. That's all.

I want to indulge in trendy fear-mongering based on irrational grounds. Why won't they give me the tools I need?

Re:Quit it already!

[MrL0G1C]

1) Lock-in, once you've planted a seed you can't go back because any remaining seeds could grow and the farmer can then be sued.
2) Suing neighbouring farmers when the seeds get into their crops (documented, google it)
3) Expense, no surprises that the GMO seeds are more expensive and require expensive pesticides etc from the company that sells the seeds.
4) Loss of diversity, a new virus can come along and wipe out massive amounts of crops when those crops are identical clones all with a single common source.
5) Random unknown side effects, more of them because when the patent runs out the GMO Co' will want to change the gene again every time for patent lock-in.