Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Caution is the Better Part of Wisdom, so GMOs Should Wait

   Alas, I go to bed understand Washington's Initiative 522 has failed. It would have required that GMOs be labeled as such, and would have made Washington the first state in the Union to require such labeling. I understand proponents of the bill raised $8.4 million, while Monsanto and other opponents donated more than $22 million.
   Money persuades more than reason. And, though the anti Initiative 522 folks did have a good argument, I'm thinking it was their money advantage that won the day. Initial polls had shown people favored 522. Then money got to them. The voice that yells the loudest often wins, and, the voice that yells the loudest is almost always the one with the money.
   GMOs might be no harm at all, but then, again, they might. Some genetically modified seeds are genetically modified only to increase nutrition. I would think those are safe. But, some are engineered to release chemicals that kill insects. My thought is, if the chemical in the plant will kill an insect, isn't there a chance it might also have an ill effect on a human? I know there has been no scientific proof that GMOs are harmful, but there also hasn't been any scientific proof that they are safe.
   GMOs were first released in the mid 1990s. That means we've had them for almost two decades now. Seventy percent of our food is now genetically modified. Maybe we should ask what studies we could conduct, and do them before getting in any deeper. If we have done all the short-term studying we can think of, then perhaps pro cede, but I'm guessing we have not. Nor am I talking studies solely done by the companies, themselves. There should be independent studies.
   Discretion is the better part of valour. And, so it could be said, caution is the better part of wisdom, sometimes.

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