GMO's in Bangladesh

British author and environmental activist Mark Lynas visited Idaho speaking on why he NOW supports GMO technology and it's use worldwide.  Lynas lead the anti-GMO movement in the 90's and even threw a pie in someone's face who disagreed with his opinion.   Lynas once told an audience at Cornell University that he thought the controversy over GMOs represents one of the greatest science communications failures of the past half-century. Millions, possibly billions, of people have come to believe what is essentially a conspiracy theory, generating fear and misunderstanding about a whole class of technologies on an unprecedentedly global scale. A visit to Bangladesh helped Lynas see the benefit of GMO. A small egg plant farmer struggled for years trying to grow enough crop to support his family of four daughters. Tropic climate required constant pesticide spraying for bugs and yields were small. Then GMO seeds were planted and yields tripled and the farmer and his family were no longer hungry and exposed to daily pesticide contamination.

 

“Their health is improved because they are not washing pesticide materials in the yard and everyone being exposed. So they are eating a healthier crop with higher productivity. Because they are not losing their fruit to the pests, they can sell more in the market and the kids can go through school and so on. So this has an impact, not just in reducing pesticides but also reducing poverty. For me, that’s a really great thing to be doing.”

 

Food Producers of Idaho hosted the visit and what he had to say was Music to the ears of Idaho farmers.