Toward a More Nuanced Science Journalism
Posted by Gina Maranto, Biopolitical Times guest contributor May 29, 2011
Biopolitical Times
Last week, Chicago Tribune reporter Monica Eng wrote about the latest chapter in the debate over genetically modified foods: their unavoidable creep into spaces and places assumed to be GM-free. Eng's counterintuitive lede describes anti-GMO protestors improbably marching outside a Whole Foods – a sign of just how bad the situation has gotten, when even purveyors of organics can't guarantee untainted fare.
The online version features several sobering visuals: a graph showing the disquieting rise in GM soy and corn production over the last decade (such plants now represent 93% and 86% of the US harvest, respectively); a map highlighting states currently deliberating policies to label GM foods; a table listing some of the 40 countries that currently require such labeling. Eng summarizes the industry and environmental health arguments, provides the obligatory pro and con quotations, refers to a couple key surveys of public attitudes about GMOs, mentions some recent epidemiological work, and ends with a boilerplate statement from Monsanto proclaiming the utter adequacy of the status quo ante to ensure "food safety" as supported by "satisfied" experts in the field.Read more . . .