Four (or Five!) Reasons Why

…Genetically Modified Food Is Inevitable

1. Once the face of the anti-GM movement, European governments were forced to lower trade barriers when the WTO ruled in February 2006 that the European Union broke trade rules by barring entry of GM crops and food. With the European market now open, and African aid recipients forced to take GM-foods, there are few policy makers left to debate the unknown impacts of our scientific tinkering.

2. The power of the corn industry in the United States, as well as the burgeoning biotechnology industry around the world, has made it next to impossible to fight the ongoing modification of basic food stocks. Current policy in the U.S., in particular the controversial Farm Bill which aims to ensure a cheap source of corn (used in just about everything), provides an environment that is conducive to genetic modification.

3. There is the potential of a global food shortage within a few years and GM-supporters will claim this as a call to action. While a highly complex issue, the International Herald Tribune summarizes that the problems are all interrelated. Factors include “the early effects of global warming, which has decreased crop yields in some crucial places, and a shift away from farming for human consumption toward crops for biofuels and cattle feed. Demand for grain is increasing with the world population, and more is diverted to feed cattle as the population of upwardly mobile meat-eaters grows.”

4. The general public continues to demand access to cheap food, either manifest through complaints about supermarket pricing or the continuing explosion of fast/already-prepared foods. Most people don’t care, don’t know or haven’t considered the unknown long-term effects - social, environmental, cultural or agricultural - of GM-foods and crops.

For an enlightening perspective on our food chain, take a look at Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. (You can download the Introduction and first chapter here.) And for more articles relating to both sides of the debate, check out the Social Issues Research Centre.