Is opposition to genetically modified food irrational? - BBC News
On Saturday 23 May 2015, thousands of activists gathered across the world to demonstrate against genetically-modified (GM) seeds and foods. There were protests in cities including Los Angeles, Paris, Santiago and Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
Yet the majority of scientists argue that GM food is safe. A recent poll from the Pew Foundation found that almost 90% of scientists from America's largest science body think GM food is generally safe, while only 37% of the public agree.
Should we embrace technology that could help feed the world, or are concerns about the impact of global agribusiness and industrial food production justified?
"There's a bullying force emotionally blackmailing the world into believing that we need to adopt this technology if we're going to feed the world, but actually what it's creating is an ever bigger divide between the haves and have-nots.
For example, one bacterial disease wipes out much of the Ugandan banana crop every year. The Gates Foundation funds local scientists' attempts to develop a new resistant variety:
"This is work done by Ugandan scientists themselves on a crop that has no connection with large corporations.
"They did not invent genetic modification but they have taken the techniques and applied them to solve a local problem - and yet there are organisations that are fighting it because it's genetically modified.
On Saturday 23 May 2015, thousands of activists gathered across the world to demonstrate against genetically-modified (GM) seeds and foods. There were protests in cities including Los Angeles, Paris, Santiago and Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
Yet the majority of scientists argue that GM food is safe. A recent poll from the Pew Foundation found that almost 90% of scientists from America's largest science body think GM food is generally safe, while only 37% of the public agree.
Should we embrace technology that could help feed the world, or are concerns about the impact of global agribusiness and industrial food production justified?
"There's a bullying force emotionally blackmailing the world into believing that we need to adopt this technology if we're going to feed the world, but actually what it's creating is an ever bigger divide between the haves and have-nots.
For example, one bacterial disease wipes out much of the Ugandan banana crop every year. The Gates Foundation funds local scientists' attempts to develop a new resistant variety:
"This is work done by Ugandan scientists themselves on a crop that has no connection with large corporations.
"They did not invent genetic modification but they have taken the techniques and applied them to solve a local problem - and yet there are organisations that are fighting it because it's genetically modified.