As I've stated in previous posts, the abundance of misinformation available to the public through mainstream media articles about genetically modified foods is alarming. Just typing GMO into Google brings up an enormous amount of information that is either biased, unreliable, or just straight fiction. However, after sifting through the non-sense you can find articles from popular magazines or websites that have accurate scientific evidence supporting their claims. The article I will discuss in the post is from Forbes Magazine titled "The Debate About GMO Safety is Over, Thanks to a New Trillion-Meal Study" and is written by Jon Entine.
Jon Entine is an author and journalist who frequently writes about science related topics including environmental sustainability, public policy, and advocating for NGOs. He has written several books on different areas of science including genetics, chemicals, as well as risk assessment and sustainability. He is the executive director of a non-governmental organization called the Genetic Literacy Project. At the University of California-Davis he is also a senior fellow at the World's Food Center Institute for Food and Agriculture Literacy.
Jon Entine
Jon begins his article by discussing some anti-GMO views and statements. After recognizing these assertions he uses scientific evidence and even logic to discredit them. He then discusses a study done to show there are no harmful effects from ingesting GMOs. The study analyzed 29 years of livestock health both before and after GMO use was introduced in the 1990's. They found that GM animal feed is just as safe as non-GM animal feed. Also Jon said "there is zero extraordinary impact". Finally, he listed may reviews of the studies to ensure it's validity.
I am a fan of this mainstream article. Not only does Jon support his statements with scientific evidence and common sense he also acknowledges opposing views and discredits them. Also although the study that is being reviewed was conducted on livestock it is still the first of many steps to look into the effects, if any, on humans. As discussed in previous posts it would be very difficult to conduct long term feeding studies on humans. It's articles like this that should be more readily available for the public, rather than non-sense false information.
I am a fan of this mainstream article. Not only does Jon support his statements with scientific evidence and common sense he also acknowledges opposing views and discredits them. Also although the study that is being reviewed was conducted on livestock it is still the first of many steps to look into the effects, if any, on humans. As discussed in previous posts it would be very difficult to conduct long term feeding studies on humans. It's articles like this that should be more readily available for the public, rather than non-sense false information.
Article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2014/09/17/the-debate-about-gmo-safety-is-over-thanks-to-a-new-trillion-meal-study/
Resources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/
Again, I like the way that you put the background information about the author at the beginning while you are posting the blog. I agree that you said there are many media articles carry many not accurate information that give wrong knowledge to readers. Therefore, we must be very be careful while we picking articles to read. You give me a good sight of choosing a scientific article through the internet.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it is great to hear that the GM animal feed is safe as non-GM animal feed through the experiments.
It's unfortunate to know that people still proceed to publish articles based on falsified information. This article seems to have a valuable amount of evidence, along with credible evidence given by a credible source. I definitely understand why you chose this article. I used to think that GMOs caused way more harm than good, but now I fully understand the concepts of them. Great post Melina!
ReplyDeleteToday, insufficient knowledge is one of society's biggest flaws. We lack, or sometimes we choose to not voluntarily attain, information that benefits us. We form conclusions based on fear and prudential reasoning, what we think is right (even though it may be wrong) because it benefits our lifestyle. I think many people, when they hear "genetically-modified", they are quick to judge it as something that's bad for one's health. This article did a very great job in, not necessarily supporting GMOs, but discrediting those who are against GMOs based on their arguments.
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