in defense of GM food

in defense of GM food

A comment on this post jokingly suggested that "genetically modified" is foul language (presumably not to be uttered in polite company). My cousin Carl also sent me an email earlier this year warning about GM food. So, I feel that I must speak up about a concept that has really gotten a bad rap.

If one uses canola oil in their cooking, then they're using genetically modified food. Canola is genetically modified rapeseed, developed in a Canadian lab back in the 1970's.

Such things as animal husbandry are technically a genetic modification, albeit on a timescale longer than a human lifetime. Animals are selected and crossbred to give desired characteristics.

As an example, all of the various breeds of cattle are the same species, but they have been bred so that Holsteins (for instance) give a lot of milk but not the best quality meat, and Herefords (for instance) don't produce much milk but have lots of tender meat. So if animal husbandry is genetic modification, then by drinking milk or eating a hamburger you're eating GM food.

Similary, there are many plants that we eat today that have been selected and cross-bred in a manner similar to animal husbandry. For instance, natural corn produces very few kernels and isn't really palatable, but hundreds of years of human intervention have produced large cobs with lots of succulent kernels. Tomatos, apples, citrus fruits, and many other types of fruits and vegetables have been modified in this manner.

And let's not forget Norman Borlaug, who produced a genetically modified strain of wheat called Dwarf Wheat; the introduction of this plant saved probably a billion people from starvation.

Chances are that for most of any person's life, most of the foods that they eat have been genetically modified in some fashion or another. Let's all take a deep breath and accept the genetic manipulation of food, either the slow process used in the past or the much quicker process today, and give thanks for the geniuses who developed the food we all eat.

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