John Stossel on Genetically Modified Food Fears
Ninety percent of all corn grown in America is genetically modified now. That means it grew from a seed that scientists altered by playing with its genes. The new genes may make corn grow faster, or they may make it less appetizing to bugs so farmers can use fewer pesticides. This upsets some people. GMOs are "unnatural," they say.
Yet people don't panic over ruby red grapefruits, which were first created in laboratories by bombarding strains of grapefruit with radiation. People don't worry about corn and other crops bred in random varieties for centuries without farmers having any idea exactly what genetic changes occurred. Perhaps people might be reassured if they knew how widespread and familiar GMOs really are, writes John Stossel. But as long as they think of GMOs as something strange and new, they think more tests are needed, more warnings, more precaution.