10 Reasons We Don’t Need GM Food

Another short article in our quest for understanding Genetically Modified Organism GMO Safety-

Recently published by by Claire Robinson, MPhil, Michael Antoniou, PhD, and John Fagan, PhD, 10-reasons-we-don’t-need-GM-foods, is a new short report from the authors of “GMO Myths and Truths”, was published on 23 May 2014 as a free download by the sustainability and science policy platform Earth Open Source. 

” ’10 reasons’ explains that GM crops do not increase yield potential or reduce pesticide use. Nor can they help us meet the challenges of climate change any better than existing non-GM crops, or deliver more nutritious foods. GM crops have been shown to have toxic effects on laboratory and farm animals.

There is only one way in which GM crops outperform non-GM crops: they are easier to patent in a way that guarantees ownership not only of that plant variety but also all plants bred from it. This process enables consolidated ownership of the seed and food market by a few large companies on a scale that has never happened before.”

The GMO Threat

Genetically Modified Organism GMO Safety as understood by Nassim Taleb, author of “The Black Swan”.

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have the ability to cause “an irreversible termination of life at some scale, which could be the planet.” Nassim Taleb

Nassim Taleb is a distinguished professor of risk engineering at New York University, author of best-sellers The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness. 

The chart below demonstrates how, over time, even a 0.1% chance of ecocide can be dangerous.

The focus, instead, should be on the fact that the “total ecocide barrier” is bound to be hit, over a long enough time, with even incredibly small odds. 

 

 

 

 

The crux of this argument hinges on the fact that GMOs represent a systemic, and not localized, risk.

Because the wind will blow where it wants to, insects will go — and carry with them — what they please, and GM goods will surely be exported to countries throughout the world, the concept of being able to control GM traits in nature is impossible to guarantee.

As Taleb says, “There are mathematical limitations to predictability in a complex system, ‘in the wild,’ which is why focusing on the difference between local (or isolated) and systemic threats is a central aspect of our warnings.”

Learn more about Nassim Taleb and his work here.