Different Points of View

This is getting posted a bit later than it should have. I had all the intentions to get it up earlier this week but life happens and I had been distracted by a few other things, mainly completing a project by Monday. Anyways, that is done and it's back into the regular routine for me.

Two weeks ago I attended a lecture on campus entitled DNA at the Dinner table and the focus of this lectures was on the global politics of genetically modified food. I will admit I wasn't sure what to expect from this lecture, it was sponsored by the biology program and I was nervous that it would be heavy with biological terms. Thankfully this wasn't the case and I felt that this was a worth while lecture. 

Lisa Weasel was the speaker and she has traveled the world trying to understand why people are either for or against GMO is our food chain.

To give you a bit of background about GMO usage

• 25 countries plant GMO crops
• The top three countires are:
• The US (64 million hecters of GMO crops)
• Brazil (21.4 million hecters)
• Argentina (21.3 million hecters)
• In the US
• 93% of soybeans planted are GMO
• Cotton: 93%
• Corn: 86%

As you can see the US heavily relys on GMO's in crop production, in Europe that is not the case.
Six European countires have banned GMO's. When I traveled to Greece last spring I noticed this as well. We were discussing with several producers about increasing yeild and the advantages of technology but non were too excited about the idea of using GMO's. Generally speaking, in America, we are willing to try anything unless it is proven to be harmful, in Europe they are not willing to try anything untill it is proven safe.

An interesting point that Lisa brought up was the fact that people have voted Monsanto (which beat out BP) as the "most evil" company. This is just what she has found through her studies.

Like I said, this was an interesting lecture and that brought up several points I hadn't realized before.