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Question

As a facebook user,anti-gmo groups & info are all over the place. I tried to find a pro-gmo group to "like" & cannot find one. Fortunately, I understand the need for gmo's but so many people are full of anxiety, worry, & concern. The common person needs to be educated not only on gmos but what exactly is in the "natural" & "organic" foods that they promote. How come I have to search for pro-gmo info but anti-gmo false info is abundant even when not looking for it?

Submitted by: Terri Swarthout


Answer

Expert response from GMOAnswers Admin_1

Friday, 18/04/2014 13:35

Based on your question, it seems that you are skeptical about the intentions and awareness of those of us who have dedicated our lives to researching and developing GM crops. I’d like to address your question based on my personal experience.

 

I grew up in southeastern Arkansas, in a small farming town named Dumas, where my grandfather, uncles and cousins were and still are farmers. I worked in the cotton fields every summer, scouting for insect pests so farmers knew when to apply insecticides. If the pest population was bad enough, farmers would spray insecticides two or more times a week. I left Dumas to go to college and eventually earned a PhD in microbiology.

 

After college, I went to work in the biotech industry. I remember, as Bt cotton was going through the regulatory process at USDA, my family kept asking when that product would be available because that meant fewer pesticide applications and less insecticide exposure to our family members and our farmworkers.

 

This product has a great impact on my understanding of my place in the world—to provide tools to help my family and other farmers. I applied for a job at Monsanto because I believed that using good science is the best solution to solve agriculture problems like controlling weeds, insect pests and plant disease. Monsanto was the leader in developing GM crops, and I wanted to be part of it.

 

I’ve been at Monsanto for 17 years, and the progress made in agriculture is staggering compared with what I experienced in the 1980s. Without the ability to use GM crops, farmers would still need to control weeds, insect pests and disease. For most, that would mean quitting farming or going back to applying pesticides two or three times per week.

 

Over Christmas this year, my uncle and I were having a conversation about activists trying to get rid of GMOs. He asked why anyone would rather eat food sprayed time and time again with pesticides, instead of using GM technology. To someone like him, who has farmed with and without GMO crops, it just didn’t make sense. I agree. For me, technology is the answer, not the problem.

Answer

Expert response from Janice Person

Online Engagement Lead, Bayer Crop Science

Wednesday, 26/02/2014 17:00

Since Facebook pages are started by organizations based on their own agenda or by people based on a personal passion, it shouldn’t be surprising that agriculture and segments of agriculture seem outnumbered there. Remember, farmers are less than 2 percent of the general public. At the same time, there are some great pages that support agriculture in general and GMOs specifically. Here are some of my favorite ones that speak to GMOs/biotech crops:

 

More Pages/Groups That Support GMOs/Biotech: