FOOD SAFETY, PUTTING THE BREAKS ON SCIENCE During the first week of March 2000, scientists from 29 countries conducted the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Conference at Edinburgh, Scotland. The topic under discussion was genetically modified food (GM). The S.F. Chronicle, March 4, 2000, had a lengthy article on how the world is skeptical on the benefits of genetically modified food with the exception of China as the below quote shows. “In China, however, the push for genetically modified crops is unstoppable, [professor Zhangliang Chen, vice president of Bejing University] Chen said. China has 23 percent of the world’s population but only 7 percent of its arable land: Without the increase yields and added nutritional value available from genetically modified crops, Chen said, it won’t be able to feed its people. Chinese farmers, he added, are also desperate to reduce the use of pesticides and herbicides. “ Obviously, China is not putting the breaks on science but it turns out that China is alone in this matter. Other nations are proceeding cautiously, but do they have sound reasoning for their caution. Or is it just unnecessary fear? Unnecessary fear has constantly been a hindrance to scientific progress. At the turn of the 1900 century the use of electric light was new and some people viewed it as a dangerous source of light. It was viewed as manmade as opposed to natural, and the effects of its use would, in due time, make people blind. Of course, these are the people who viewed “natural” as the only appropriate source for anything. All other sources are not natural and, therefore, are harmful. In the case of electric light, time has proven these fear-moguls wrong. This piece is not intended to go into details but I feel it’s a necessity to detail one item. Rice is an excellent food and is eaten worldwide. But because it lacks vitamin A, in certain parts of the world where foods containing vitamin A are scarce, blindness is quite prevalent. Genetically modified rice containing vitamin A will drastically reduce blindness. Who would object? Comments on my comments are urged.
