Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are the future of the world’s food supply. But America’s GMO producers — including growers in the Magic Valley — are getting slaughtered in the public relations arena. They have to do better.
The National Academies, the American Medical Association, the World Heath Organization, the European Commission — these are some of the scientific heavyweights that have declared there’s no credible evidence GMOs are unsafe for consumption. Yet, in the age of Internet conspiracies, the only time a non-grower hears Monsanto is when a crazy aunt is on a tirade or ill-informed protesters are marching in the street.
Instead of looking like the big, bad corporate overseers trying to quell information by fighting labeling legislation, take the facts to the American people. That’s where the money should be spent. Tell a story about mankind’s 15,000 years of plant domestication. Tell them about how we have selectively bred, spliced and cloned our way to civilization. Tell them how genetic manipulation is no different, except for its incredibly higher efficiency. Play to the people’s minds and beat back the wave of Internet-fed paranoia. The science is with GMO producers. The ballooning human species won’t be fed by hobby farms.
Related on the SLP
The Magic Valley aspires to national bread-basket status, a milestone only reached with the widespread use of hearty, genetically altered sugar beets, potatoes and other crops. But there’s a wave working against us, one that now includes corporate interests who claim the moral high ground and profit off public distaste for GMOs. The producers need to stop fighting transparency and pivot to a long-term information war. That’s the high ground.
Read the full, original article: Fighting the Wrong GMO War
