“Certainly, there are many scientists, farmers, and people with ties to biotech interests who are concerned about less-than-ethical corporate behavior or irresponsible public policy decisions. As you point out, these individuals might harm their reputation by coming out against GMOs. Part of this can be attributed to an association with conspiracy theorists and their pseudoscientific claims. Although I’ll be the first to admit that much of what is presented online about the dangers of GMOs is less than scientific, I reject any characterization of the food reform movement as one whose opposition to GMOs is based solely on pseudoscientific claims. I know I’m not going to convince you of this here and now, but there is actually a lot of solid evidence regarding the dangers of GMOs. Perhaps the more significant issue is that corporate interests have hijacked the scientific establishment. If Bob is a scientist and his colleagues won’t pay attention to his concerns regarding GMOs, we have to consider the role of systemic pressure to conform to the industry agenda. As you probably know, certain researchers who have published findings with the potential to hurt corporate profits have become the targets of orchestrated smear campaigns intended to destroy their credibility and the credibility of their findings. In some cases, these scientists have lost their funding and have found themselves ostracized by their peers and unable to work. Now, even the pro-GMO side should recognize that this is a problem. Science is supposed to be objective. Researchers should be free to conduct experiments and publish their findings without censorship or interference from corporate interests. When results are buried because they demonstrate clear health risks, that is not ethical, and when industry-funded experiments are designed in advance to yield skewed results favorable to the financial interests of the industry that funds them, that is a mockery of science.” Do you agree? Disagree? Weigh in at gmocontroversy/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4&p=9#p9
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 15:57:58 +0000
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