Did the National Academy of Sciences—one of the highest scientific authorities in the land—actually produce a report on the meaningless term “GMO”? ‘Genetically modified organism’ is a meaningless term used by the food industry and the media. Genetic modification is a process used in agriculture to produce specific traits. Genetic modification produces unique results with each crop. Simply grouping the nutritionally enhanced Golden Rice with herbicide tolerant corn is like grouping elephants and ants in a review of the animal kingdom. Different crops produce different traits geared towards different end-users.
The 2016 report has proponents and critics of GM foods claiming victory. It is really important to focus not just on specific facts but on the process of science: on the reproducibility of the studies, skepticism of one-off research, weight of evidence, and the willingness to revise theories with new reproducible studies. nap.edu/gecropstudy