GMO — Jay has often commented that he accedes there is no good evidence that consumption of GMO’s are harmful to health. It’s just that there are these other issues like patent law abuses and the like. This is reasonable. However, as was revealed on the david packman show, ever so fleetingly and insidiously, there is a gut level distrust with any tinkering of genes. It is this unplumbed fear that is by far the primary driver on how folks view the labeling issue. Not the details of copyright abuse.

Most of Jay’s listeners defer to sound science, though the I-don’t-care-what-science-says also lurk around. When it comes to climate science, due respect is given to the finest minds. Some of the finest minds reside at the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society. These two science bodies are the most eminent in the history of humanity. And they say Climate Change is a real menace. And just as surely they debunk most anti-GMO activism. The Royal Society is so concerned they have even issued policy statements for the public. Read them. GMO’s are safe and are not in need of eternal testing. GMO’s are not monoculture – the two terms are unrelated as GMO’s may be used in different types of agriculture. Moreover, genetic engineering will be invaluable to cope with productivity challenges in world being wrecked by rapid climate change. The positions of the activist Mark Lynas (as covered Michael Specter of the New Yorker) or the watchdog group sciencebasedmedicine.org is far more in line with these prominent scientific bodies than anything I’ve heard on best of the left.

There is nothing pristine about much of what we eat. Many of your animal and plant foods got portions of their genetic makeup via repeated viral infections during their evolution. Your favorite plants and herbs don’t even want to be eaten. They have countless poisons and bitter agents to dissuade you. It’s just we’ve also evolved to handle these foods. Animal husbandry drew similar cynicism a century ago – surely God would be aghast at such tinkering involving breeding of sibling to sibling. But whereas the art of breeding is coarse and clumsy at genetic manipulation, GM is a honed scalpel.

Note problems exist with breeding, from hip problems in German Shepards to chickens bred to grow so fast and so fat they are prone to fractures. Do we deal with these problems on a piecemeal basis with a cool mind, or do we label away most of our food? How about “this animal specimen is the result of genetic tinkering by pairing fathers with daughters and sons with mothers and brothers with sisters”?

There may be legitimate issues with patents and copyrights when it comes to GMO’s. But if you really think show-us-the-birth-certificate-oh-my-we-have-a-right-to-know tactics are the best way to go, the floor is yours. Make your case.