Agricultural biotechnology has been having a rough ride in Europe, and it’s going to get worse. A coalition of groups opposed to genetically modified organisms is planning a series of protests in mid-October, just before World Food Day, Oct. 16. Through publicity stunts like dressing up as monsters to protest “Frankenstein foods,” they have succeeded in gaining a fair amount of attention.
Some grocery stores have declared they will not carry genetically modified food, and some school boards have directed that no such foods be served in their cafeterias.
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One of the protesters’ most frequently used tactics has been to send teams of volunteers to destroy test plots by hand. Even though such raids are well publicized in advance, authorities have usually refrained from making any arrests.
Even one farmers’ union has joined the protest movement. The Confederation Paysanne, a leftist French farm group, recently destroyed a Monsanto test plot in southern France.
One Monsanto official, Dan Verakis, described a fundamental flaw in the protesters’ logic: “Compare trials of GM organisms with drug trials in the pharmaceutical industry: they test for side-effects and, if they find one drug is going to hurt people, they cancel the trial. The leap of logic these people make is to say that, if one new drug is bad, all drugs are bad and should be pulled off the market.”
He suggested they also are being hypocritical: “These people say more data is necessary and yet destroy trials, which prevents the very collection of that data. What side of their mouths are they speaking out of?”
The agriculture industry’s cause has not been helped by the fact that the first major releases of genetically modified crops have involved pesticide resistance. Protesters allege this could mean the creation of “superweeds” if the genetic resistance “escapes” into the weed population.
Panels of scientists have explained why that is not a real danger, but their reassurances have a tough time competing for newspaper headlines with terms like “Frankenfood.”
Still, the message will eventually get out if scientists and the industry keep trying. Speakers at a recent British scientists’ conference noted that consumers have accepted medicines made with genetic modifications.
One researcher confidently predicted: “If we look back 25 years ahead from today we will actually wonder what all the fuss was about.”
There’s a good chance he’s right – but the political storm will get more intense before it subsides.
