In response to John Wall’s article, “Student group shows documentary about genetically modified foods” from Thursday, Feb. 3, I would like to point out the incorrect facts and lack of follow-up research. While I do not expect a movie named The Idiot Cycle to have any basis in fact, I also don’t expect it to be treated as an agricultural documentary by the newspaper at the Southeast’s top agriculture school.
The presentation of The Idiot Cycle as a factual documentary is disappointing considering the incorrect facts and casual dismissal of legitimate claims. Since the introduction of GM crops, yields have gone up significantly, an achievement which cannot be overstated in a world with over six billion people to feed. While no one would give genetically modified crops all the credit for this improvement, they have been a critical part of the equation that lets us supply the world’s growing need for food, clothing and fuel on a fixed amount of land. Claims that herbicides “are genetically embedded in seeds” and that genetically modified crops can be grown without restriction in the US are simply incorrect. Genes allowing crops to resist herbicides are inserted into plant cells, but the need to spray herbicides is determined by each farmer, just as it was before transgenics. While genes to produce the insecticide Bt are inserted into crops, the article does not mention the fact that Bt is an acceptable organic pesticide. Genetically modified crops in the US must be approved by the USDA, FDA and EPA before they can be grown without strict controls. While some companies have made money through genetically engineered crops, they have not done so at the expense of everyone else, but by inventing technology that allows all of us to eat every day.
I am disappointed that the Technician blindly accepted the claims made in this ‘documentary.’ In a University filled with agriculture professors, surely one expert could have been found to verify the ‘facts’ presented in this story.
Steve Todd
graduate student, horticultural science
