There have been a few mentions lately on our feed readers of genetically modified foods making a bit of a PR push.
The New York Times sat down with Nina V. Fedoroff, science adviser to the Secretary of State, to ask her about the public impression of genetically modified foods:
Q. YOU BELIEVE THAT ENVIRONMENTALISTS SHOULD BE EMBRACING GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS. WHAT'S YOUR ARGUMENT?
A. If we put more land under cultivation to feed the world's growing population, we're going to pull down the remaining forests.
And if that happens, it will contribute tremendously to desertification. The more we can grow on already cultivated land, the better. Europe, North America, Australia, Japan -- we've been extremely successful in applying science to agriculture and we can afford to say, "Let's go natural." But there's collateral damage.
When I went to Rwanda, you saw farmers with holdings of less than an acre.
If their population doubles again, we're looking at more strife. Arguably, Darfur isn't about politics, it's about water. Many of the conflicts in the poorest countries are about too many people chasing too few resources. Do we have time to transition something that looks like Rwanda to a more efficient agriculture and to do it wisely enough to absorb the people?
Also, the Discovery News Sustainable blog hit the topic of environmentalism vs. genetically modified foods pretty recently:
For years, opponents have argued that genetically engineered plants wreak havoc with human health and nature, and accuse plant biotech companies, such as Monsanto, of putting profits before people. On the other hand, agricultural biotech proponents argue that engineered crops enable farmers to grow at a time of global food shortages, insidious pests, weeds and extreme weather.
But fiddling around with plants dates back to the 19th century, long before the debate of modified foods boiled up. Back then, scientists figured out how to hybridize plants in the same species, a process that takes many years, but eventually encourages plants to come out with the best traits.
Where do you stand? Genetically modified food too creepy? Does it put too many farmers out of business? What about food shortages?