The GMO industry's war on science.

• Author: Koberstein, Paul
• Position: Genetically modified organisms

A raft of stories in the mainstream press have compared dire warnings about genetically modified organisms to climate change denial. But there is a huge difference between climate skepticism and GMO concerns.

Climate skeptics stubbornly reject the empirical evidence that shows rising temperatures are being caused by increased emissions of carbon dioxide, mainly from fossil fuel-fired power plants--a clear indication of scientific malpractice.

Even worse, they oppose sensible policies designed to avoid the horrific consequences of remaining on our current path.

On GMOs, the biotech industry accuses its critics of naively believing the half-baked results of sketchy research papers. But while industry supported climate skepticism for years, until it finally became disreputable, when it comes to genetically modified organisms, the food industry giants are playing an ugly game of censoring and intimidating scientists who challenge its oft-repeated claims that genetically modified foods are safe to eat.

Corporations attack scientists who find problems with their products "because they don't want to lose markets and market share," says Warren Porter, professor of zoology at the University of Wisconsin. "It's all about money. Problems also expose them to risk, for example, lawsuits that are expensive. The two major goals for any corporation are to maximize profits and minimize risks. Anything that threatens either of those is a target for attack."

To make their argument sound more compelling, GMO producers change the topic from general environmental concerns to specific health impacts on consumers. And they ignore the consequences of GMO crops' heavy reliance on pesticides.

In a recent study, the Pew Research Center found that 87 percent of members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science believe the Earth is getting warmer mostly because of human activity. It also found that 88 percent of these scientists believe that genetically engineered food products are safe to eat.

Some people say Pew's results show that there is greater agreement over the safety of genetically engineered organisms than there is on anthropogenic climate change. But the Pew study found that only 68 percent of scientists think it is safe to eat foods grown with pesticides, a sign that some GMO support gets wobbly when the questions are asked in a different way.

The production of genetically modified foods always involves the use of pesticides, including some...