The Farmer's Daughter USA

Hi, I'm Amanda! My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm also a practicing attorney.

IQ2 Debate on GMOs Wins Over Undecided Viewers

Tonight Intelligence Squared (or IQ2) hosted a debate about GMOs that was very well received!

The prompts for the debate centered on GMO safety, food security, the environment, and whether we’re better off with or without using the technology. Standing for biotechnology was Alison Van Eenennaam, Genomics and Biotechnology Researcher at UC Davis, and Robert Fraley, Executive VP and Chief Technology Officer at Monsanto. Arguing against GMOs were Charles Benbrook, a research professor at Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Margaret Mellon, a Science Policy Consultant and former Senior Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The awesome thing about the debate were the results at the end. Viewers of the debate had the opportunity to vote for “the motion” (meaning in favor of genetically modified crops), against the motion, or undecided. As you can see from the following screenshot, once folks listened to the debate and became (at least a little) more informed, there was a dramatic swing to being favorable to GMOs.

As you can see, following the debate many viewers had gone from being undecided about GMO crops to favoring them. I’d say that’s a pretty good indicator that Mr. Fraley and Ms. Van Eenennaam did a very nice job supporting biotechnology. 
Mr. Fraley posted the following reaction immediately following the debate:
If you’d like to check out the video of the debate, click here (if it isn’t up yet, it will be soon). I have not watched it myself, but I  plan on doing so soon. I imagine it will be very informative and definitely a nice link to share with your undecided friends.

UPDATE: Here’s the full video (Thanks to Andy on Facebook for finding this!!):

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Comments

  1. Joanna says

    I was hanging on every word. It was well done, Amanda. I'm so glad that Robb pointed out our common ground – we all want a safe, healthy food supply. This dialogue, out in the open, not behind facebook pages, twitter handles or instagram memes needs to happen and started last night!