The EU lifted a 6-year ban on GM food to permit the import of GM corn from Swiss-base Syngenta. Sure, US agro will potentially benefit from the lifting of the ban, but I can't help thinking that the ban was in place strategically to prevent the EU from being locked in to buying US GM seed.
The UN food agency recently gave the nod to GM food. Last year, the Vatican approved of GM food after apparently skewing a conference in order to get the requisite support.
I suppose the logic is inevitable. There are an increasing number of people in the world, and GM crops offer the hope of feeding them. However, these varieties tend to be energy-intensive, in that they require more fertilizer. Much of the manufacture of modern fertilizer relies on petroleum. Oil is food.
Assuming for the moment that pesticide-resistant genes from GM food doesn't eventually escape into the wild, there's apparently an unintended consequence happening right now. Coastal water dead zones are being created, apparently triggered by fertilizer runoff.
I don't have any easy answers.
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