In Bed With Organics and Biotechnology

In spite of the current, widely held belief that universal magnetic polarity causes people to swing to either the left or the right, many folks on more of an even keel tend to defy such clear-cut blue and red tendencies. For instance, although most of my acquaintances know me as an erstwhile crunchy but still organic adherent, I'm also a proponent of agricultural biotechnology. Both approaches have had some time to work out the kinks, and both still need some retooling, testing and analysis. But to dub either system as wrong or worthless is shortsighted.

Although these two concepts might seem intrinsically at odds, one common denominator is the shared desire to reduce pesticide use. Certified-organic cultural practices only permit a bare minimum of pesticide use, and GM crops can dramatically cut the need for pesticide application--both of which not only help protect the environment and cut farmer costs, they also might improve human health (see http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/308/5722/688; here's another good one that touches on this subject: http://indica.ucdavis.edu/publication/reference/r0602.pdf).

Another point where both genetic engineering and organics meet is the nutritional enhancement of crops, such as the concept of thwarting severe vitamin A deficiency via GM "golden rice" (see http://www.goldenrice.org/; a good commentary on this subject: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010416/kohl; this work is still stalled (still testing) but provides a nice example of GM's altruistic potential). On the organic front, recent research has shown that many of our conventional crops--selectively bred for speedy growth rates, pest resistance and high yield--have reduced nutrient contents than their heirloom counterparts. Organic crops, on the other hand, still tend to provide higher levels of their resident vitamins and minerals (see http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/25/HOG3BHSDPG1.DTL for one recent article on this subject).

Sometimes, seemingly disparate approaches often yield surprisingly similar results.