Editor’s Note: Views expressed in guest columns and letters to the editor reflect the views of the author, not the views of The State News.
Regarding Mitch Goldsmith’s opinion column (“URC promotes unsustainability,” SN 4/11) in which he opposes using research funding for the study and implementation of genetically engineered plants, he claims “the jury still is out on the safety and environmental sustainability of such genetically modified seeds and crops.”
The jury is as much out on the issue of genetic engineering as it is on whether the theory of evolution holds true, or on whether Earth is undergoing a period of anthropogenic climate change. That is to say, although a number of people and groups vocally oppose it, the vast majority of experts agree that it is safe and applicable to a number of problems.
So it is somewhat disingenuous to claim that the jury is still out. The experts and researchers in the field of plant breeding and genetics agree on the utility of this technology, but no one bothers to listen to them.
Jesse Traub, horticulture graduate student
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