The ending, redefined.

The ‘Take the flour back‘ protest saw a stand-off between anti-GM protesters and police outside a GM-wheat open air field trial today. I happened to read some nonsense on the Beeb from the government’s chief scientist. Apparently if we don’t get GM foods soon, millions of African babies will die needlessly (really). How about population control?

So the old argument comes out, with both sides getting lost in a debate over the finer details of genetic science. One side calling the other luddites, the other opposing the risks of a potentially irreversible open air trial.

But what is the purpose of GM food? The effects of human interference in the ecosystem cannot be known until those changes are embedded in the ecosystem and then they cannot be withdrawn. Take the example of Paul Felix Armand-Delille’s release of myxomatosis and the consequential near extinction of the Iberian Lynx.

Presumably the only benefit of GM food is to provide more food to support more humans? The risks are unknown, but there is a great benefit for a minority in the form of owning patented plant genes.

Are you pro-GM? Would you like to put forward an argument for the benefits of GM food? I’d love to understand the debate from the other side.

Those lovely folks at Ipswich Quakers are putting on a jam packed day of green goodness on Saturday 23rd of July from 10am to 5pm. See the Suffolk Quakers website for more details.

The weather forecast predicts the first frost of the winter midweek. It is the last weekend to harvest any tender crops, so we went to gather all of the courgettes, marrows, butternuts, pumpkins, patty pans and whatever other hybrids of squash we grew. Beautiful.