The following is an excerpt.
It’s hard not to sympathize with Oregon lawmakers caught up in the GMO scare.
Genetically modified organism technologies, which alter a plant’s DNA to create better crop yields and pest resistance, are derisively known to produce Frankenfoods: soybeans, corn, sugar beets and canola that are present in processed foods and might, because of their widespread consumption, create disease or somehow be unhealthful.
The problem is that nobody knows. The science is mixed. The federal Food and Drug Administration says GMO technologies produce crops that are “substantially equivalent” to traditional crops. Even the persuasive anti-GMO activist Mark Lynas, author of “The God Species,” reversed course and in January told an Oxford University audience that his careful reading of the scientific literature about GMOs showed him he was wrong — the jury’s still out.
View the original article here: Lawmakers should slow down on GMO labeling, a drive based on fear