[Filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy] and his fellow producer, Brooklynite Trace Sheehan, decided to delve into one issue: GMOs, or genetically modified organisms…[Many] folks consider GMOs “Frankenfood.” “The Daily Show”’s Jon Stewart called “G-M-O” the language’s three scariest letters.
Kennedy and Sheehan started wading into the debate. What they found was a war — and a huge disconnect between the science world, which overwhelmingly believes GMOs are safe, and the public, which does not.
“I feel like so many people who are skeptical of GMOs sort of lump together a hodgepodge of arguments, as if it’s one monolithic entity,” said Sheehan in a phone interview.
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Kennedy’s crew flew to Uganda where the banana crop is dying from rotting disease. A genetically modified banana plant is being developed by public-sector scientists there. The farmers are desperate to grow it. In the movie, we meet a mom and her children who survive on her small farm’s banana crop. When the trees die, we grimly understand: So will her kids.
“We’ve been screening our film, and we ask before and after, ‘Who has concern about the safety of GMOs?’ And we see time and again, the film is changing minds,” said Sheehan. “No one says the farmers in Africa shouldn’t have the right to grow that genetically modified banana.”
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: The great GMO freak-out exposé
