Scientists have demonstrated that genetically modified organisms have no measurable negative impacts on human health. Indeed, they may hold the key to feeding a world impacted by climate change. But does this mean GMOs are completely without risk?
GM technology is designed to be elegant and efficient, targeting only those traits which we want to enhance. But ecology is far more complex than pest + poison = problem solved. The things we don’t understand about how nature works are myriad, and oftentimes are incredibly basic. Ecologists don’t even really understand how so many species can coexist within a single environment, and it wasn’t until 1969 that Robert T. Paine figured out that some keystone species are so critical to an ecosystem that removing them causes the whole place to collapse. So it is no surprise that current regulatory standards do almost nothing to address the very real concerns surrounding GM technology.
Current regulatory procedures in the United States and EU primarily focus on human-health impacts of GMOs. Obviously these are important, and should be studied. But our regulations almost entirely ignore environmental and ecological impacts, which are a very real, and mostly-unmeasured threat. The problem is that GM regulation is cumbersome, involving multiple agencies and a whole lot of time. As a result, public researchers who study things like environmental impacts are cut out of the loop, leaving GM research in the hands of private companies like Monsanto.
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GM technology really does hold great promise for addressing the needs of the projected 9 billion people on this earth by 2050. Our conventional agricultural practices aren’t going to sustainably feed the world. But the far-reaching impacts of this technology must be carefully assessed and managed, and we, as people on the planet that require food, should think carefully about how this technology is regulated.
Read the full, original article: You’re Worrying About GMOs For the Wrong Reasons
