Genetically Modified Foods Are Safe, So Stop Freaking Out

Genetically modified foods are the subject of conspiracy theories and uneducated fearmongering...despite study after study that has found the foods to be perfect okay to eat. Anti-GMO groups are still out there, and there advocating against modified foods despite the benefits they offer and their potential to help improve food security around the globe. More than half a decade ago, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released a report that found nothing wrong with GMO foods. The report didn't help things, and so now six years later, it's back with yet another.

This week, the organization released a new report that in the years since its previous report, "no differences have been found that implicate a higher risk to human health safety from these GE foods than from their non-GE counterparts." The crops were also not found to cause issues with the environment, nor to be negatively affecting biodiversity.

Rather than scaling back work related to genetically modified foods out of fear, the report underscores a very clear point: people need to get over it so governments can move on to more sensible perspectives and facilitate an increased number of research projects.

Utilized properly, genetically modified foods can lead to crops better able to thrive in a specific environment, being less prone to local pests and environmental variations to produce larger, more abundant edibles. Though GMOs alone won't be feeding the world's population, they will contribute greatly toward more abundant food supplies...if further research and sensible policies are allowed to proceed.

SOURCE: Washington Post