You Call It Corn, We Call It Maize

New at Reason: Ron Bailey looks at the results of a farm scale evaluation study, and draws a different conclusion than the one anti-GM advocates are promoting.

Comments

[Roger Sweeny]

And we use the golden goodness of corn oil to make Mazola margarine.

[Tom from Texas]

The biggest laugh for me in the film “28 Days Later” was the grocery store scene where they discover the only fruits or vegetables that haven’t rotted are the GM apples – which they then take and eat.

[nm156]

The simple fact of the matter is that mankind has been genetically modifying food for decades. The difference now is one of scope (what do we alter), and degree (how much do we alter it). AJB

[Jeff Clothier]

The British position on GM crops has been logically untenable for twenty years, but as long as Sir Paul McCartney and HRH the Prince of Wales – both of whom make numerous pounds sterling from “organic” food companies they are connected to – continue to make their countrymen comfortable with food illogic, we can’t expect the Brits to make any sense on this topic any time soon.

[Anonymous]

Another point that Mr. Baily could have added, is the decreased use of fossil fuels in the tilling and cultivation of farm land that rely more on herbicides to control weeds, rather than the mechanical methods used in traditional cultivation.

In addition, not only can weeds be controlled more easily, since herbicide-tolerant crops can be treated at any time, they also can be controlled more effectively, by application when the conditions – temperature, humidity, soil moisture, sunny/coudy, and so on are optimal, without affecting the timing and planting of the food crop.