I’ll often hear, “Farmers need to support each other! Conventional, organic, or otherwise!”
This sentiment is common. The idea is that conventional farming can exist right along side the anti-GMO crowd, the organic crowd, the vegetarian crowd, the foodies, or whoever else decides to come along with a “better” plan.
But, the truth is, we can’t just co-exist because those non-conventional supporters are dead set against one thing: conventional farming.
Let’s take up the people that are against GMOs.
On May 25, the anti-GMO folks hosted what they dubbed “March Against Monsanto.” As you can guess, they aren’t fans of Monsanto and are apparently under the impression that Monsanto controls everything, including you and me. They also seem to, erroneously, think that Monsanto is the only company that creates GM products. Nonetheless…
If you want to know why we cannot just “co-exist,” where those who want to eat non-GM produce eat it and those who know better eat our products, all you have to do is check out this March Against Monsanto.
I went and pulled some photos from their Facebook page (by all means, go check it out if you think I’m joking, pulled the worst pictures, or am unfairly portraying the rally).
Here is what I found:
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| I fail to see how Monsanto or GMOs prohibit/cause any of these things. |
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| No, Monsanto’s worst enemy is uneducated protesters. |
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| Right. Since no one has ever become ill, sick, or died from GMOs? |
We can’t get along because these people are so far from reason, logic, or reality that they aren’t willing to have a genuine conversation anyway. They wouldn’t be willing to listen to the mounds of research, data, or statistics. They really don’t care about the truth.
The real truth is that there has never been a single, credible scientific study showing that GMOs are unhealthy or unsafe for human beings. Nor has a single person ever become sick as a result of eating GM products. And GMOs are so heavily tested and regulated, you’re more likely to get sick from non-GM products (especially if those products are organic).
But no one attending the Monsanto rally is going to even hear that information. Or believe it (“Monsanto paid for it!”).
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| Too bad GM products could reduce disease and starvation in the developing world. |
I’ve had someone ask me why farmers shouldn’t just agree to label GM products, to show we aren’t afraid and we have nothing to hide.
These people are why.
First, does anyone really think they’d be satisfied with labeling? Of course not. They won’t be unhappy until all science stops and all farming is organic.
Second, because they aren’t living in our world. Farmers use science, technology, and economics. These people are backwards, anti-science, and clueless about producing crops. These protesters have no qualms about spreading absolute lies and misconceptions. They want people to be deceived by their rhetoric. The goal is to plant a little seed (no pun intended) of doubt about the safety and security of GM products into the minds of people around the world. They want to ignore science and progress and latch onto ignorance.
Think about this: they are literally protesting technology that could end starvation, increase nutrition, and prevent diseases.
And that’s why we can’t just get along.
Why are people against requiring labels for GMO crops? Because, food labeling laws need to be based on science not fear. If we start down this path, there is no limit to the information that could be demanded to be displayed on the label based only on fear and ignorance. For example:- may contains crops planted during a full-moon- may contains crops planted on the 13th day of the month- may contains crops harvested on the 13th day of the month- only contains crops planted using no-till techniques- only contains crops planted using conventional tillage- . . . .
I looked at the March Against Monsanto Facebook page…..all I can say is wow and laugh.
I'd disagree that you can "especially" get sick from organic foods…. any food product has the potential for contamination. Nothing about organic or gmo make them more or less sanitary or contaminated w/ E Coli, Listeria, Salmonella etc etc…. That is a handling/processing issue.. but the anti GMO crowd is a bit nuts, right up there with the Moms against guns and Mayor Bloomberg.
Thank you