Turning the GM battleship: The tide of popular opinion and the future of genetically modified foods

Abstract

GMOs have had a bad run in the popular media lately. The persistently negative portrayals are unfortunate for many reasons, but most notably because the transgenic technology has the potential to accomplish a number of critical humanitarian and environmental objectives, often ones espoused by those who oppose GMOs. This essay explores the deeper nature of the popular media’s and general public’s failure to grasp and present the benefits of GMOs with scientific accuracy and a sense of objectivity that both the media and public claim to seek. Building on this analysis, it then examines the matter of how corporations and scientists might better convey their message, exploring the potential of third-party verifiers and labeling initiatives to alleviate much of the public’s mistrust of transgenic technology. In the end, there is substantial evidence that the “problem” with GMOs does not inhere in the medium but the message.