Will Frankenfood Save the Planet?
Jonathan Rauch, Atlantic Monthly 2003

  • Rauch acknowledges that GM crops could be used against environment
    • Salt tolerant or drought resistant crop might induce farmers to plough up virgin land previously too salty or dry to farm
    • Thus it is environmentalists job to make sure GMOs used in environmentally friendly way
  • Gene transfer poses risks to be sure
    • GM crops spreading into wildlands or cross pollinating with weedy relatives producing superweeds or invasive/destructive varieties
  • Then says so does cross breeding
    • He's ignoring relative risks or suggesting they are equally risky, without explaining why that is supposed to be so
  • Says need some government regulation
  • He imagines a world in 2050 where population has stabilized and we are able to feed all people while reducing our agricultural footprint and putting agriculture on sustainable basis (e.g., returning cropland to wilderness, restoring damaged soils/ecosystems)