In all cases, the differences that humans have brought can be thought of as acceleration and direction. Humans have thought of ways to speed up natural selection to make plants more adaptable to specific agricultural situations and more nutritious or palatable to humans and animals. Rather than wait a million years for the mutation that confers resistance to an herbicide or a pest, mutagenesis allows you to find that mutation in a few years. Then the breeder backcrosses or outcrosses repeatedly to isolate the one desired mutation from the others that were either neutral or undesirable.
The persons I have met in agribusiness are keenly aware that food safety is an absolute must. They realize that if any "GMO" food slipped through the incredibly strict screens for safety, the effects on the company's reputation and bottom line would be extremely costly.
The little discussed fact is that "GMO" food is safer and more wholesome than conventionally produced foods because of the dramatic decreases in required pesticides and fungicides and the greatly reduced levels of very hazardous natural toxins like aflatoxin (made by a natural fungus).
I think that the public should continue to scrutinize agribusiness and academic laboratories, just as they should scrutinize their government and other major industries. However, I also believe that the more the public understands about the process of food and feed improvement performed by BASF and other companies, the more they will not only welcome it, but demand it. I also believe that many in agribusiness welcome constructive scrutiny, despite the inconvenience of it.
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.