Food snobs might believe they’re fighting the good fight in battling Monsanto over genetically modified crops. In the latest Fortune magazine, Nina Easton shares another side of the story.
It’s fast becoming fashionable inside America’s hard left to loudly condemn genetically modified (GM) crops — and those evil corporations that produce them. The rebellion that first flourished on European soil — despite a dearth of evidence showing GM’s dangers — has been imported to U.S. shores by groups like Greenpeace. California’s ballot initiative to require labeling failed last November, but similar proposals are cropping up in other states and Congress. Whole Foods has opted to protect its hard-core foodie flank with a five-year plan to label products containing GM ingredients (which don’t qualify as “organic”).
What’s cast as a fight against GM crops looks more like an elitist war on the world’s poor. Monsanto-produced Golden Rice, fortified with vitamin A, will save the lives of millions of children, especially in South and Southeast Asia. An estimated 250,000 to 500,000 vitamin A-deficient children become blind every year, half of them dying within a year of losing their sight, according to the World Health Organization.
Poor farmers in India, China, and West Africa have been pulled out of poverty because of their ability to grow pest-resistant GM cotton. Water-efficient maize grown in East Africa is protecting the livelihood of farmers — and the lives of people — during the onslaught of drought.