people who oppose the cultivation of genetically modified crops are not all out of scientific doubts (not to mention whether their reasons are tenable), but some are out of their beliefs that human beings should not plant "unnatural" crops. However, none of the crops planted by human beings today are "natural", and they are all artificially modified. This transformation took place in the Neolithic Age about 1, years ago, when humans began to try to grow food. In the process of planting, it is found that some plants have desirable characteristics (such as higher yield and better taste), so their seeds are preserved and continue to be planted. In the next generation, choose the best "quality" to plant, so that you can get "excellent" varieties by choosing from generation to generation. Darwin later called this process "artificial selection".

this process is very slow. In the Neolithic Age, it took thousands of years to "domesticate" a wild plant. In 1719, fairchild, a British botanist, invented a method of creating new varieties of crops-cross breeding, which hybridized different varieties of crops and bred varieties with excellent characters among their descendants. At the beginning of the 2th century, the establishment of genetics provided a theoretical basis for crop breeding, and botanists used hybrid breeding methods to create many new varieties with great practical value in agricultural production. These new varieties are all unknown in nature.

"The safety of genetically modified food has not been determined", which is a common saying in the media. This statement is inaccurate. International authoritative organizations have unanimously recognized that genetically modified foods currently approved for marketing are safe. In 22, the governments of some countries in southern Africa consulted the United Nations on the safety of genetically modified foods. On August 27th, the United Nations issued a statement saying: "According to the information sources and existing scientific knowledge from various countries, the FAO, WHO and WFP hold the view that eating foods containing genetically modified ingredients provided as food aid in southern Africa is unlikely to pose risks to human health. So these foods can be eaten. These organizations have confirmed that no scientific literature has been found to show that eating these foods has a negative effect on human health. " In the question and answer about genetically modified foods, the World Health Organization pointed out: "Genetically modified foods currently available in the international market have passed the risk assessment and are unlikely to pose risks to human health. Moreover, among the general population in the countries where they are approved, it has not been found that eating these foods will affect human health. "

The current accusations and worries about genetically modified crops and genetically modified foods are actually social panic caused by the intentional misleading of some extremist organizations and the general public's lack of biological knowledge. There is not much scientific content in the debate around it, so it is hard to be called a scientific debate.

In fact, genetically modified foods that have been marketed are not only safe, but also often safer than similar non-genetically modified foods. Planting insect-resistant transgenic crops can reduce or eliminate pesticide pollution to food, and as we all know, high pesticide residue has always been a big problem in food safety. Disease-resistant transgenic crops can resist bacterial infection, thus reducing the content of bacterial toxins in food. Excessive use of chemical pesticides is the main factor that destroys the environment at present. Popularizing insect-resistant transgenic crops can greatly reduce or even avoid the use of chemical pesticides, which not only reduces the pollution of pesticides to the environment, but also reduces the raw materials, energy and waste discharged for the production, transportation and spraying of pesticides. On April 29th, 25, Science magazine published the paper "The Influence of Transgenic Insect-resistant Rice on Rice Production and Farmers' Health in China", which pointed out that the yield of transgenic insect-resistant rice was 6% higher than that of non-transgenic rice, and the application amount of pesticides was reduced by 8%, which saved considerable expenses and reduced the adverse effects of pesticides on farmers' health. Every year in China, about 5, farmers are poisoned by using pesticides, and about 5 of them die.