A few months ago, I went to [an] event called European Ideas Lab, organized in Brussels by the Greens/EFA, the green party in the European parliament.
… I believe there is common ground to be found with environmentalists about modern plant breeding.
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I presented myself as having been anti-GMO…before …. learning about the overwhelming consensus on the safety of genetically engineered crops, discovering many applications of the technology that make farming more sustainable
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I tried to argue that beneficial applications exist…drought tolerant maize, cassava resistant to brown streak virus, crops fortified with vitamin A and iron, etc. They are in many cases created in developing countries for their own farmers, but…This fell on deaf ears and was countered with the popular, though inaccurate, trope about multinational corporations controlling science ….
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[While] environmentalists have legitimate reasons to be suspicious of industry…this sound skepticism [has] sunk into full-blown fanaticism that sacrifices science and technology on the altar of ideology. Maybe we should…consider listening to [pro-GMO] environmentalists with differing views such as Mark Lynas…This will not mean the death of the Green political movement. Simply that it’s capable of evolving without betraying its core values.Read full, original article: A field trip inside Green anti-GMO campaigning
