US and the EU to Push for Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement

[traininthedistance]

In general not bad, but only if the EU import restrictions for the US gene-manipulated crap crop remains.

At the risk of breaking orthodoxy and making some enemies here... the blanket opposition to GMO crops that is so strong in Europe and popular in many liberal circles here is something based more in emotion than science.  While it is good to have close scrutiny and effective regulation to guard against potential harmful side effects, most of these changes allow us to feed more people with less land and energy, and that can only be a good thing given the alternative.

Every agricultural product that man uses has been modified in some way or another to increase yield, nutrition, etc.  We wouldn't have civilization if that weren't the case.

The anti-GMO movement is, while not quite so disastrous and evil, the closest thing the left has to climate change denialism or ID hogwash.

[traininthedistance]

In general not bad, but only if the EU import restrictions for the US gene-manipulated crap crop remains.

At the risk of breaking orthodoxy and making some enemies here... the blanket opposition to GMO crops that is so strong in Europe and popular in many liberal circles here is something based more in emotion than science.  While it is good to have close scrutiny and effective regulation to guard against potential harmful side effects, most of these changes allow us to feed more people with less land and energy, and that can only be a good thing given the alternative.

Every agricultural product that man uses has been modified in some way or another to increase yield, nutrition, etc.  We wouldn't have civilization if that weren't the case.

The anti-GMO movement is, while not quite so disastrous and evil, the closest thing the left has to climate change denialism or ID hogwash.

I should clarify that this is not true for industrialized factory farming of animals: the concentrated waste products and battery of antibiotics that go into these operations really are a huge problem for both food quality and the wider environment, and the Greens do have science on their side here.

[traininthedistance]

Paranoia about fracking and genetically modified food is the Left's analog to the Right's global warming and intelligent design trutherism. It's people listening to their hearts tell them one thing even when the facts say otherwise, to paraphrase Ronnie.

I wouldn't put fracking in the same category as GMOs.  While I accept that fracking is better for the climate than coal, certainly, the associated water quality issues are very real.  NYC has been able to save billions by protecting the land around its Catskills reservoirs rather than sinking money and energy into after-the-fact water treatment, so the possibility that could be ruined by a faulty gas well is something we do need to vigilantly guard against.