MAILBAG
GE foods are safe, say scientists
S
ir ~ Genetically
engineered (GE) crops
have made the news
again this year.
In May the US National
Academies of Sciences,
Engineering & Medicine
produced a 388 page report
which found, in summary,
that:
K Genetically engineered
foods posed no more of a risk
to human health than their
non-GE counterparts;
K Had no adverse environmental effect – a finding that
also held where genes were
transferred from a GE crop to
a wild species. (Some positive
environmental effects were
noted); and,
K Generally GE crops
resulted in favourable
economic outcomes. (The
report can be accessed here:
http://www8.nationalacademi
es.org/onpinews/newsitem.asp
x?RecordID=23395)
No sooner had this bombshell
(from one of the world's
foremost scientific and
intellectual establishments)
been dropped when, in June,
a staggering 113 Nobel
laureates (of the approximately 280 still living) in an
open letter (to the UN,
Greenpeace and world
governments) called for a halt
to the campaign against
GMOs and biotechnology in
agriculture. (Refer to
http://supportprecisionagricult
ure.org/ )
I certainly don't pretend to
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5
www.sasmallholder.co.za
follow all the science. But I do
know that I would rather
listen to venerable institutions
than to ill-informed environmentalists and Luddites with
an axe-to-grind.
My view is simple ~ I haven't
grown horns from eating
steak; and I doubt I shall
“glow-in-the-dark” from
eating mielies containing
firefly genes!
Brian Reilly
Broederstroom