The following is an edited excerpt.
Labeling foods containing genetically modified ingredients will enable us to choose to avoid them. It is a policy long overdue.
GM seeds take plant breeding to a whole new level; they are an unnatural technological leap that can only be created in a laboratory. Under microscopic conditions, DNA from another species is spliced into the genetic makeup of the target plant in the hope of conferring some advantage. Roundup-ready crops, for instance, are designed to withstand repeated applications of the chemical weed-killer Roundup. Bt crops carry an insecticide (Bacillus thuringiensis) in every cell to deter insect damage. Many crops carry not just one, but multiple genetic alterations, called “stacked” varieties, or “stax.” These are plants that have never existed in nature. In the natural world a firefly could not breed with a tobacco plant, nor a flounder with a tomato, but in the bizarre world of genetic engineering, all things are possible. (Both of these have been done, though never marketed).
Share this article
Read the original story in its entirety here: Why We Must Fight to Label GMOs
