I don't think GMOs are inherently unhealthy for us to consume. I also don't think organic is much healthier than non-organic. The pesticides they use in organics might be healthier to ingest than non-organic, but that also isn't my issue. My primary concern is soil health, and the amount we are taking out of the soil vs putting back in. I don't know what the answer is to maintaining the integrity of the soil while still producing enough food, but we need to figure that out.
There needs to be a major revolution in the way we farm that includes covering the soil, rotating crops, polyculture planting, and avoiding chemical fertilizers and herbicides that destroy the soil food web. The way we do it now is not sustainable. Monoculture planting and leaving the land bare for months at a time just doesn't make sense.
The problem is that people on both sides lump everyone on the other side into a massive unfair category. People on the organic/anti-GMO side think they pro-GMO/non-organic people are out to poison the children and destroy the earth. People on the pro-GMO side consider anyone who is anti-GMO/anti-agrobusiness to be woo woo hippies who don't vaccinated their children and use acupuncture to cure their cancer. It doesn't help, and only serves to divide people and justify opinions.
There is a finite amount of workable land in the world, and there are ways to improve poor land and to hold on to fertile land longer. Unfortunately, we get stuck in these ridiculous debates where both sides come away thinking the other side is worthless, instead of realizing where they are coming from.
The real thing we should be paying attention to is the amount of organic matter we put into the soil vs the amount we take out. Nature covers soil with grass, trees, shrubs, etc and the debris that falls off of those goes back into the soil to feed it. If the soil is bare, it dries up and blows away. I don't pretend to know how we can fix this and still feed the world, but it is something we need to pay attention to.
GMOs promote the use of herbicides, and non-organic promotes the use of soil damaging chemical fertilizers. That is where my problem with them lies, and why I purchase organic produce, even if the organic methods aren't perfect. I don't really see them as the major issue, but more of a side-effect of the real problems with industrialized agriculture. I also don't know what the answer is to fixing those problems, but that's what we need to focus our energy on.
A simple fact: I live in Southern California, where we import much of our water. I mulch my garden heavily. I never water it, other than the automatic sprinkler that goes off once a week, even with our temperatures in the 90+ range most days and the Southern California sun beating down on it. The people in the gardens around me leave their soil bare, so they have to come out and water every day or every two days. If you stick your finger in my soil, under my mulch, it is cold and wet. If you stick your finger in the soil in the plot 4 feet away, hot and dry as a bone. It's clear that mulching makes sense and would help with water usage along with soil erosion. I know you can't mulch every field in the same way that I mulch my 400 sq foot garden plot, but we could be doing something.
If you are concerned about your children, make soil your battle instead of GMOs, because that's what could really end us in the long run. Feel free to tell me I'm trying to poison the children or call me a woo woo hippie.
