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Researcher(s):
Jonas Miller-Stockie Heather Shaw Joey Benyair
ENVS course(s): 330 Initiated: February 2018 Completed: April 2018 Go to project site
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A genetically modified organism is a transgenic plant where a foreign gene from either a virus, bacteria, an animal or even another plant is added into the genetic code. The genetic modification movement has grown rapidly and over the last decade; transgenic crops using modern biotechnology have been planted on over a billion acres of land around the world. More than 10.3 million farmers, 8.5 million of them in developing countries, will plant more than 250 million acres of biotech corn, canola, soybeans along with papaya, sugar beets and squash. Although genetic alteration of food has been occurring for over 40 years, recent speculation points to uncertainty in corporate greed and motive, increases in chemical use on GM crops, and uncertainty in long term health risks. One aspect leading to the distrust of GMOs comes from the idea that corporate conglomerates that market and sell industrial chemicals also have engineered GMO seeds, where the two function as perfect market compliments. The object gaining most traction in GMO uncertainty are the possibilities of long term adverse health effects.
In 2014, Vermont became the first state to pass a bill, titled Act 120, that would require all food packaging to label whether or not a product contained any GM ingredients.Given the amount of attention that media gave to the discourses of GMO labeling in Vermont, it begs the question of how were rhetorical tools and strategies used in discussions about the GMO labeling movement in Vermont?