Stossel: At least, that’s what the media and big money- hungry environmental groups want you to (bee)lieve. 

Marketplace.org

A little more than a decade ago, environmentalists and agriculturalists were sounding the alarm for bees. Some 10 million beehives had been lost in the previous years, and scientists weren’t completely sure why. The consequences of this widespread loss could have been dire for crops and humans.

Today though, bees are still around. In fact, the U.S. might have more honeybees than ever, with more than 1 million bee colonies added in the last five years, bringing the total to nearly 4 million. Bees are still struggling in many ways, but they’re far from endangered.

Bryan Walsh, editorial director at Vox, joined “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal to talk about how we all got it so wrong, and what the reality is for bees today.

I know this opinion isn’t popular, but I’m not worried about GMO’s either. This is my personal opinion. Plants have been modified in various ways for millennia. For example, peas are a “founder crop” domesticated in the Fertile Crescent about 11,000 years ago.  Gregor Mendel studied the genetics of the pea plant and how to modify it in the 1860’s. Just because the methods to do so have become more scientific doesn’t make them dangerous.

I believe that individual GM foods and their safety should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.  GM foods currently available on the international market have passed safety assessments and are not likely to present risks for human health. In addition, no effects on human health have been shown as a result of the consumption of such foods by the general population in the countries where they have been approved.

In fact, some have been shown to be extremely beneficial to human health. Example: Golden rice, produced through genetic engineering to add beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, to the edible parts of the rice.

Golden rice can be grown and consumed in areas with a shortage of dietary vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiency causes xerophthalmia, a range of eye conditions from night blindness to more severe clinical outcomes such as keratomalacia and corneal scars, and permanent blindness. Additionally, vitamin A deficiency also increases risk of mortality from measles and diarrhea in children. In 2013, the prevalence of deficiency was the highest in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

It probably won’t surprise you to know that golden rice is opposed by  environmental activists, and their pressure, in some cases, has caused governments (e.g. the Philippines) – where this crop could be extremely beneficial – to stop its propagation.

I’ll get down off my soapbox now. You already know that you shouldn’t believe everything you see on the news or read on the internet. Or hear from politicians; most of them are dumber than we are.