Some seasons are wet, others dry; some years insects take over or disease looms. There is always an element of uncertainty when it comes to farming: you never know what Mother Nature will throw at you.
Scanning the web for slogans and catchphrases that slur biotech crops rouses the usual suspects: “frankenfoods,” “our kids are not lab rats” and “GMOs are not food.” Sometimes slogans can be revealing of how anti-GMO activists really boil down an issue.
Claiming that they “were not able to control their emotional outburst,” a mob stormed a rice field this month in the Philippines and laid waste to the seedlings growing there. The mob tore down a fence and swarmed onto the field, uprooted the rice shoots, and then buried them under the dirt to ensure they were dead.
I went to the hospital with his family and learned how to give insulin injections and understand blood sugar measurements. One thing I didn’t learn at the time is the amazing biotechnology story behind the tiny bottles of life-saving insulin that showed up in his refrigerator.
Some years ago, walking on a college campus, I had a small pamphlet shoved into my hand. It advertised itself as the “atheist test” and featured a banana on the cover. As my parents and many years of schooling can attest, I am not one to pass up an exam. I opened it up and started reading.
