Small Town News

Little GMOs cause big headache in Europe

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Farming and your Freedom

Sometimes, it seems, we have to reinvent the wheel -- or at least restate the obvious benefits of certain technologies in the face of Old Wives' Tales, rumors or downright misinformation.

So it is with the world of genetically modified corn, those now ubiquitous little GMOs. While the seeds are widespread in American farming, in Europe they are kept at the fringes in a sort of Dark Ages reaction to modern farm production.

As a matter of fact, according to The New York Times, one Italian producer, Giorgio Fidenato, has declared war on the Italian government and environmental groups over GMOs in corn. The Times said Fidenato. who is an agronomist, has secretly planted two fields of genetically modified corn in defiance of the Italian authorities and public opinion.

While GMOs have been in widespread use in the U.S. for several years, Italy and many other European nations have kept such modern farming methods largely out of practice through innuendo and other means. The GMOs are, after all, legal in Europe. Fidenato has had all he can take and isn't taking any more, apparently.

The Times said that a small number of European nations, including Spain, Portugal and Germany, are allowing some use of GMO crops, but with only two of the dozens of GMO seeds that are on the market worldwide. To use them, farmers must go through a rigorous approval process. In some European nations, there are "GMO-free zones," according to The Times.

These just add to the confusion many European corn fanners experience. And, all of this over a seed that simply is genetically capable of producing a chemical that kills corn-borer larvae, and has been shown in the U.S. to have no harmful effects on people consuming such engineered corn or to other non-GM crops. Absolutely none.

Mr. Fidenato and other Italian farmers interested in planting GMO corn have to go through what The Times described as a "Kafkaesque approval process in which the Agriculture Ministry has never established the requirements for success," making GMO crops "a non-starter." And, we think bureaucrats make life onerous here.

Authorities are not all to blame for ignorance in Europe. The Times noted that "passionate public opposition" to GMO crops in many areas of Europe is a causal factor, as well. Just as many people in the U.S. think President Obama is a Muslim, flying in the face of the truth, so it is that many Europeans are convinced that GMOs are harmful -- regardless of the evidence to the contrary.



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© 2011 The Decorah Journal Decorah, Iowa. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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