The Existential Threat from New GMOs - GENE-EDITING
- By Jeffrey Smith
The allure of gene editing is intoxicating. Biohackers set up labs for as little as $2,000, while major companies install buildings full of robots driven by artificial intelligence for massive output. The ability to cheaply customize the genomes of any species promises wealth, health, and the unprecedented opportunity to reshape the natural world to our whims and wishes.
But what happens when countless gene altered species flood our ecosystem?
What we call nature today, the product of billions of years of evolution, would be forever replaced with laboratory creations - forged from a technology whose number one most common outcome is surprise side effects. Tens of thousands of well-intentioned DNA fixes—accompanied by the collateral damage that invariably results - would irreversibly corrupt our gene pool.
We all know how one single invasive species can create chaos in a new environment. What chaos will we unleash when delicately balanced ecosystems are substituted with untested, gene altered varieties?
We have arrived at an inevitable moment in human civilization where we can easily reorder the codes of life and redirect the streams of evolution for all time. One would hope that such unprecedented power would be balanced by a society equipped with far-sighted vision, advanced moral and ethical values, rock solid safety mechanisms, and a profound understanding of how altered DNA functions.
We have none of these.
Instead, we have companies like Monsanto, willing to overlook or cover-up dangers. Industries obsessed with short-term profit. And governments busy eliminating all safety requirements.
In the early days of genetic engineering, thoughtful scientists were deeply concerned about the unpredictable and irreversible impacts. They agreed among themselves to keep it in the lab. If a GMO could reproduce, it was not to be released into the environment.
This prudent measure was soon overturned by profit-seekers who overstated the safety and denied the risks. That same false narrative continues to this day.
Many activists working on climate change believe that the threat to our planet from genetic engineering is even greater. Although debating the point is fruitless, the implications are clear. We are facing a new existential threat that must be addressed.
To learn more about the background of this issue, click this link and please considering sharing this information with your network.
Please join us to sound the alarm and to create assurances that this powerful new technology is handled responsibly. All living beings and all future generations are in the balance.
