Hundreds of French protesters tried to show how much they cared about the environment ignorant they are of science and ecology by trying to destroy a field of genetically modified corn.
French police arrested three people after hundreds of protesters including anti-globalisation icon Jose Bove tried to destroy a field of genetically-modified maize.
Between 250 and 300 anti-GM protesters invaded the field in the Lot-et-Garonne area of southwest France on Saturday afternoon.
It goes without saying that they were unsuccessful; the concept of fire likely goes over their heads.
Of course, anyone with even a modicum of knowledge about the history of agriculture knows how deceiving the phrase “genetically modified maize” is. That’s because, of course, all maize (or corn, or whatever you want to call it) currently existing for food production today is genetically modified. Maize is the product of centuries of selective breeding on the part of indigenous Americans. There’s nothing “natural” about it.
On a chemical level, what agricultural scientists do in the lab when they genetically modify food crops is no different from the selective breeding that farmers practiced for century. The only difference is that today, breeding is faster, more efficient, and it is now easier to create crops for the specific purposes desired. The outcry against genetic modification of foods in Europe (and in the U.S.) has a lot more to do with sheer ignorance than any real concern over the health and safety of food products.
Obviously, not all genetically modified foods are going to be great. It may even be that errors in the planning stages could lead to dangers. But these are risks, and they can be managed. So long as there are tests and controls, genetic modification is far less dangerous than most risks that human beings take every single day. Especially where food is concerned. After all, it’s pretty conclusive that a Vegan diet poses far more risks to health than diets that include meat, yet Veganism is marketed as being “healthy” and “natural.”
Clearly, some education about the food we eat is needed. There is no evidence demonstrating that genetically modified foods are, as a class, any more dangerous than the conventional foods already out there. Quite the contrary, in fact.
