Forum On Role Of Genetically Modified Organisms In The Future Of Food And Agriculture

Today there is a much smaller proportion of hungry people on the planet than ever before thanks to technologies that have resulted in the development of hybrid crop through crop breeding, more efficient farming techniques, and the use of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides to reduce pest loads and increase yields. There is considerable confusion and misinformation when it comes to GMOs and that scientists, who might be relied on to provide a more dispassionate analysis, are overly influenced by who controls the technology, the reward structure of research universities, and growing polarization in the GMO debate. To be sure, the growth of GMOs has spurred vigorous discussion in the scholarly and lay press, and tremendous public passion on all sides of the issue. Since GMOs are also a quintessentially geographical topic, involving the people-environment interface as well as a differential expression of their acceptance across the globe-for example, many European countries, and some of their former colonies rejecting them, while the United States and some other countries being very open to them-we feel that this forum is an excellent opportunity to provide some key insights into why people can disagree about the ultimate value and role of GMOs in modern agriculture.