sighs deeply

So the argument for GMOs is they allow shortcuts to genetic selection that allow farmers and food producers to bypass years or decades of selective breeding in order to create crops with favorable characteristics such as pest-resistance or improved durability or improved nutrition or general, non-denominational Better Living Through Chemistry. To the best of my knowledge, that argument is undisputed.

The argument against GMOs, minus the crazy, is that the regulation and testing developed for GM organisms and products is not rigorous enough to detect many of the problems associated with altering the chemistry and genetics of organisms.

It's a legitimate argument. A lot of GMO crops are tested by putting them in a field and watching them grow. I can't find a link but this film (by one of Jerry Garcia's widows) tells the tale of a test crop in Idaho that ended up spreading plants clear to the Andes. BUT: I can't find a citation and the discussion tends to go like this:

HOLY SHIT Flavr Savr tomatoes cause stomach lesions!

JESUS CHRIST Stomach tubes can cause stomach lesions would you please calm the fuck down?

I've thought about this more than most and my personal position on GMO foods is that careful scrutiny by the FDA prevented thalidomide from being sold in the United States but did not prevent approval of Vioxx, which might have contributed to the early deaths of a half million senior citizens. The careful scrutiny of thalidomide, from my understanding of GMO regulation, is not found in the regulation of genetically-modified organisms. That said, if your corn syrup comes from GMO corn, I think you're pretty safe from any GMO hanky panky. I mean, fuck - you could modify corn with velocirpator venom or some shit and the act of refining the fuckin' fructose out of it would pretty much eliminate anything corny about it.

The general fear, I think, comes from Frankenstein Syndrome and a lack of understanding of the modern food system. To the best of my knowledge there aren't any GMO foods that you can up and buy... it's all broken-down ingredients. You're right, though. People be batshit. I once wrote to Mother Earth News and asked them if they maybe could put together a primer on why people should avoid GMO foods. They published it with the response "everybody knows GMO foods are bad for you."

Uhhh, okay. Thus is knowledge spread, I guess.