The GMO Manifesto
In a week when the UK government has stupidly and inexplicably thrown its support behind genetically modified crops…
crops that almost every other country in the world is trying to get rid of, I found myself wondering how to sum up my own feelings clearly and succinctly and not in the usual 10,000 word dissertations that have become so common in the campaign against GM.
Don’t get me wrong, it can be fun to dig out obscure references to try and prove your point at incredible length. But by going down this route I fear we ignore the fact that GM is not just a science issue. It is, as my thought experiment tries to sum up, a social, political, economic, ethical and moral issue in which science plays only one part.
I also wonder how effective ‘geeking it up’ is at bringing everyone else (which is, like, 95% of the planet) along on an issue that is so vital to all our futures.
You might think I have more time on my hands than is good for me (definitely not true)! But this GMO Manifesto (in the style of the inspirational Holstee manifesto and others like it) is where I ended up. If you like it please distribute it more widely so hopefully more people will feel empowered to speak out.
Thanks to the Ecologist website for giving this manifesto a wonderful boost recently – lots of people have uploaded it since.
You can download the .pdf version here
Anyone is free to use this on their website – but please credit me and link back to my site.
