I'm not late to the conversation, I know GMO's have been a widely controversial issue for a while now... but I had a thought today that totally slammed everything into perspective for me.
The first GM crop I remember learning about was Golden Rice. In developing countries where rice is the main food source, we see a huge issue with vision impairment/blindness simply due to a lack of nutrients; namely: Vitamin A. In an attempt to help these people, scientists started working on ways to create a rice crop with more Vitamin A.
And I thought, "How cool is that? We have so much knowledge and technology at our disposal and look at the amazing, life-changing things we can do with it?"
That was about 7 years ago. Since then, I have had countless conversations/arguments with people about genetically modified foods. My arguments are often based on scientific facts and anecdotes from my experience growing up on a farm... but maybe I've been doing it all wrong.
From day 1 of learning about GMO's, they have seemed like such a positive thing to me. We can make food with more nutrients, crops that need fewer pesticides sprayed on them, etc. How is that perceived as something so negative by so many people?
Maybe, from a fundamental level, I need to understand where you are coming from if you're anti-GMO. Have a conversation with me. Don't be defensive or try to convince me that your opinion is all-that-is-right in the world... just talk to me. Tell me your concerns. I want to hear your experiences and understand where you're coming from.
Maybe, just maybe, if we all do that... we will understand each other a little bit better and be able to have more educational conversations about these issues. Leave me a comment. Let's talk.
No comments:
Post a Comment