COSTCO digs itself into a hole with its take on the GMO controversy

By ACSH Staff — Jun 23, 2014
In addition to selling about everything you can think of under the sun in bulk quantities, COSTCO is now putting its two cents

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In addition to selling about everything under the sun in bulk quantities, COSTCO is now putting its two cents in regarding the GMO controversy. But, according to Dr. Alex B. Berezow, founding editor of RealClearScience, the article written in their brochure was enough to cause my eyeballs to explode.

The COSTCO article starts off setting the stage for a balanced debate on the subject, while quickly moving on to give an inaccurate history of agriculture, and then mainly focuses on the major fear of anti-GMO activists: the fear of the unknown. To which Dr. Berezow responds: So what? The unknown is not a particularly good reason to reject a technology. Your laptop or smartphone might explode. But I doubt this unknown prevents you from using them. A far more relevant consideration is risk. What are the risks of implementing the technology? What are the risks of not implementing the technology? Do the potential benefits outweigh the potential harms? The answer to those questions should decide GMO policy, not fear of the unknown.

And the supposed experts anti-GMO activists are citing include the likes of Dr. Oz, Joseph Mercola, Greenpeace and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Not exactly experts in our book.

The bottom line according to Dr. Berezow is this: Some 75% of the food in the grocery store contains at least one genetically modified ingredient. That includes the food at Costco. They probably should have thought of that before frightening all of their customers.

Read the full piece here!