GMOs endanger biodiversity

The Times editorial “Skepticism on GMO labels” [Opinion, Feb. 18] says we should focus on science. Good idea!

Science clearly tells us that if a GMO seed plant is growing near a non-GMO seed plant of the same species — say, one GMO corn plant and one non-GMO corn plant — the offspring of the non-GMO plant will change because of the cross pollination from the GMO plant next door. And now the seeds produced by the non-GMO corn plant will be genetically modified much like the GMO seed planted nearby.

My concern in having so much GMO seed in our fields is that eventually we will have no other seed of that species and all the diversity that those seeds had provided. So then where are we when some virus, mold, insect, etc., deals a death blow to that one corn seed? It is that thing we have heard before: biodiversity.

It is also instructive to focus on the money. Big seed companies, which have a monopoly on GMO seed sales, are spending big money to further their cause.

--Gaye Simpson, Seattle