Opponents to the GMO issue generally believe there is something sinister about how science “dangerously manipulates organisms” for use in agriculture … They adamantly claim that GMOs are a cause of concern for the environment as well, despite overwhelming scientific research that shows otherwise. While it may be true that some concern, such as herbicide resistance in weeds and the involvement of multinationals, are not without risks, they are not specific to GMOs alone.
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[T]alking about the dangers … is appealing because if it were true that genetically modified organisms were a threat to human life it, might explain a plethora of unresolved issues, like claims that genetically modified organisms are responsible for mysterious and even assumed illnesses, or a culprit that negatively affects the environment. Liken it to any good conspiracy theory; it seems to explain the things we do not understand. Believing untrue claims about GMOs fits well into the fears of the misinformed; things we do not fully understand we seldom trust, and therefore do not support.Dr. Sheri Jacobson is an accredited psychotherapist who says catastrophizing is what is known in psychology as a “cognitive distortion” — an habitual and unconscious way of thinking that something is not realistic and based instead on misperception. In the case of believing genetically modified organisms are the blight of scientific research, thinking it becomes a case of negative exaggeration, an antithesis, the refusal to believe what can scientifically be endorsed is a falsehood.
Read full, original post: Genetically modified disbelief and the lonely road to the sorcerer’s stone
