BLOGGER HIGHLIGHT: GMO Foods
Greenpeace, the environmental group, has shown up in the Gulf and convinced the Gulf News to run an editorial disguised as an article.
In the article, the following phrases are used as statements of fact, not opinion:
The UAE lacks "proper labelling [sic] laws". Sorry, but it is not that easy. By what standard are the current laws improper? Because Greenpeace doesn't like them?
The UAE "has the highest incidence of genetically engineered (GE) contaminated food" (emphasis added). This is using loaded language completely inappropriate to a news article. Calling GM a contamination is begging the question. You haven't proven that it is bad. Would you call the milk that is sold in the stores "contaminated" by Vitamin D?
"The first GM crop was engineered in 1996 in the United States". No, this is just flat out wrong. It is so wrong that it demonstrates either stunning ignorance or a willingness to deceive. Humans have been genetically modifying plants for thousands of years through cross-breeding and domestication. It is only that we have begun doing it scientifically in the last few years.
This is whole story is anti-scientific scaremongering at its worst. The whole point is to make you afraid.
I hate argument by asseveration. If your position is so obviously right, how hard is it to produce some proof? Here let me show you how easy it is: "No major health hazards have come to light since GM food was introduced 13 years ago, and close to 150 studies are published to attest their safety". [citation]. If Greenpeace or the Gulf News has some proof, present it. Otherwise take your scary stories that aren't fit to frighten children and go.
