Monthly Archives: August 2009

The debate rages–fellow Eco-Heroes, what say you on this matter?

GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms–which pertains to cloned cattle, hybrid corn crops and bean seeds tweaked to resist disease.  Enviro-Girl avoids hybrid seeds and plants in her garden like the proverbial plague.  Their seeds don’t reproduce the following year, they aren’t native to her region, they often require MORE work than heritage varieties, they come in dramatically limited varieties and consequently eliminate diversity in our diets and environment, and they don’t harvest as nicely.  But does GMO mean “not organic?”

This article sums up part of the debate–and while Enviro Girl is an avid environmentalist, she’s also a realist.  Would she rather GMO tomatoes grown without chemicals poisoning the land, air and water?  Does organic mean grown and raised organically or should this label apply to only heritage varieties of animals and produce?  Organic farmers go through enough red tape and bureaucracy–should we further add to their burden by requiring testing for GMO?

Part of Enviro Girl feels that the GMO issue is argued by zealots who have unreasonably high standards and a politcal desire to take Monsanto and its kin down through lobbying for rules like these.  Should one slash and burn the entire forest to save a single tree?  Enviro Girl grows zucchini in her garden that may or may not be GMO.  She bought it from the greenhouse down the road and grew it in a garden without Miracle-Gro, Preen or Round Up.  She used worm castings and compost for fertilizer and NO pesticides or herbicides.  The environmental impact of her zucchini was nearly nil–and she’d argue fair and square that her zucchini is organic.  But the only way to know for sure is to test it.

Farmers across America grow food organically–but they don’t always grow heritage varieties.  Sometimes they’re unavailable.  Sometimes they’re impractical.  Organic farmers have to reap a harvest and thus a profit to compete against government-subsidized megafarms producing the same crops.  If they have to occasionally grow a hybrid variety of squash because otherwise the beetles will devour an entire field of it, is that such a bad thing? One thing is certain–food and food production is political and the little guys definitely don’t stand a chance agains the megacorporations like Monsanto who profit from their environmental irresponsibility.  (Monsanto has sued farmers for growing their seeds illegally–their seeds have blown in to fields and contaminated organic crops.  They’re invested in protecting their intellectual property, but GMOs can’t be contained.  Right now it’s estimated that GMOs are in 80% of the food Americans buy and eat–this is a force to be reckoned with.)  But does a little science make food NOT organic?

On the flip side, countries all over Europe have protested and banned GMOs with considerable success.  American consumers prefer cheap and convenient food to healthy and safe food–there’s a good argument for government drawing a line in the sand and declaring GMO-free part of an “Organic” label.  Letting market forces resolve this debate would likely result in a proliferation of GMOs in all of our food.  And when she considers that possibility, Enviro Girl has to concede the zealots might be right.

Chime in, reader.  Do you think GMO makes something not organic?  Do you want this information included on labels?