I'm also saying we should apply uniform standards for managing risks. It's not uniform to require GMOs undergo multi-human-generation safety tests (as another user hinted at), but readily approve strains from traditional breeding after a basic "Does it immediately kill people?" test.
I don't just what to know what strains of GMO wheat went into my packaged cookie. I want to know what strains of everything, because I don't think non-GMO is better or safer in any reasonable way. I want a uniform safety standard, not one that only exists for scary science-y new-ish things.
I don't want to keep people in ignorance. I think that people are currently badly misinformed, and I'm in favor of full disclosure all around. I am not in favor of the "Contains GMOs" labels, because those labels do not provide information to make decisions with and only play on fears.
> I might want to know for environmental reasons that have nothing to do with health.
Sounds like wanting all the details of provenance, which, apart from letting the consumer decide on environmental factors, lets decide on issues like fair trade. So a good thing. But it sounds like "GMO or not" isn't special among "all the details"?
You're perfectly right. We shouldn't ask for evidence for anything, because no amount of evidence will convince everyone.
> Seems reasonable. How do you propose to address these unknowns? And are you aware that non-GMO plants can product dangerous super species we can never get rid of? Purple loosestrife comes to mind.
I see what you mean. If disasters can be caused by things that are not GMOs, then it would be ignorant to try our best to make sure that GMOs do not cause the same sort of disasters. Anyway, the people who make their living from coming up with new GMOs and getting them adopted as widely as possible can be trusted to objectively determine their safety. They're very smart.
> Having listened to your concerns and seriously pondered them, all I see is fear. Unbounded fear.
Having listened to your responses and attempting to detect anything in them that is actually responsive, all I see is sarcasm. Unbounded sarcasm.
What I see is people who have a fundamentally emotional position mixed with people who have a fundamentally venal position insisting that potentially dangerous products (like all products) not be labeled or tested, and rarely giving a reason why other than the strawman that it is ignorant to think that the process of genetic modification itself is dangerous because it is fundamentally similar to human-guided breeding. I'm sure somebody is arguing that somewhere, but the fact that I don't have a problem with GMOs as a class is why I want more labeling. I don't just want to know if something is made from GMOs, I want to know that it's made from GM wheat. I don't just want to know that it's made from GM wheat, I want to know which GM wheat, because I might have entirely different feelings about one than about the other. I don't just want to know for health reasons, I might want to know for environmental reasons that have nothing to do with health.
Most importantly, I do not want to hear that some GMO was allowed into the food system because of a substantial similarity to another GMO that was previously allowed. If the differences are insubstantial enough to avoid testing, then they're insubstantial enough that not allowing them to go to market isn't a significant hardship.
I don't understand how your idea of enlightenment depends on keeping people in ignorance. Not only am I lumped in with people who think that the process of genetic modification is against some nebulous ironically supernatural concept called "nature," but I'm also expected to cheer on limitations on those people's agency to eat as they see fit (and limit my own in the process.)
It's so cynical. I'd rather GMOs be completely disallowed than to be regulated by people who think along these lines.