Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, perhaps the countrys most famous scientist, has a message for critics of genetically modified foods: Chill out. In a video we first saw at Mother Jones, he answers a question, asked in French, that roughly translates to: What do you think about genetically modified plants? We have been genetically modifying food for tens of thousands of years, he points out, and theres no reason to fear GMO foods created in a lab any more than seedless fruits created through selective breeding. GMO technology might scare people, he suggests, simply because people dont fully understand it. Tyson may not be a GMO expert, but the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the European Commission all agree with him on the safety of GMO foods. So does the research. Here is his answer, in full: Im amazed how much objection genetically modified foods are receiving from the public. It smacks of the fear factor that exists at every new emergent science, where people dont fully understand it or dont fully know or embrace its consequences, and therefore reject it. What most people dont know, but they should, is that practically every food you buy in a store for consumption by humans is genetically modified food. There are no wild seedless watermelons; theres no wild cows; theres no long-stem roses growing in the wild — although we dont eat roses. You list all the fruit, and all the vegetables, and ask yourself: Is there a wild counterpart to this? If there is, its not as large, its not as sweet, its not as juicy, and it has way more seeds in it. We have systematically genetically modified all the foods, the vegetables and animals, that we have eaten ever since we cultivated them. Its called artificial selection. Thats how we genetically modify them. So now that we can do it in a lab, all of a sudden youre going to complain? If youre the complainer type, go back and eat the apples that grow wild. You know something? Theyre this big, and theyre tart. Theyre not sweet, like Red Delicious apples. We manufactured those. Thats a genetic modification. Do you realize silk cannot be produced in the wild? The silkworm, as we cultivate it, has no wild counterpart because it would die in the wild. So theres not even any silk anymore. So we are creating and modifying the biology of the world to serve our needs. I dont have a problem with that, cause weve been doing that for tens of thousands of years. So chill out. And heres the video: Read more: businessinsider/neil-degrasse-tyson-believes-in-gmos-2014-7#ixzz38zxqEcod
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 23:43:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015