Did Monsanto doom GMOs in public mind by tying them to pesticides?

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis.

. . .[W]ho thinks of genetically engineered food as green? Hardly anyone, thanks to the archaic and greedy Monsanto strategy. The companies that owned GMO technology to modify seeds did not want to gamble on losing profits from their pesticides and herbicides to “go green.”

Instead, they tied new GMO technology to their old businesses and delayed what should have been the next big leap in agriculture—environmentally friendly genetic engineering. Genetics was and is the answer to the question of how to be environmentally friendly while producing the amount of food we need to survive.

. . . .

Enjoy bananas, pears, asparagus, or coffee? All are at grave risk from microbial diseases. Do you find rice, wheat, or corn tasty? So do fungi. Genetic engineering is our best weapon to fight plant predators, protect our crops, and reduce the use of toxic chemicals.

Labeling? Well Monsanto has been fighting it for the better part of two decades. It has plenty of company from its fellow corporate giants Pepsico, Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, . . . As a result, only one state, Vermont, has a labeling law, and the public is so convinced genetic engineering is risky that no one wants to admit they use it.

But if gene editing has the potential to make a greener agriculture, more nutritious, abundant food, and animals that can better fight off diseases (including Zika)—why not label? In fact, label prominently. Use a big, bright, hard-to-miss DNA double-helix with a happy face on it. . . .

Read full, original post: The Grave Consequences of Fearing GMOs

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In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring drew attention to pesticides and their possible dangers to humans, birds, mammals and the ...
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