Genetically modified (GMO) food; The NY Times, Papaya, and GMO food on Hawaii. Depending on who you talk to, GMO food has a poor reputation. Monsanto is typically the company that comes to mind when GMO foods are discussed, and they are often seen as an opportunist when crops are damaged by a virus, or some other disease that harms crop yields. Do GMO foods solve these problems safely? The NY times explores this and its relationship to the papaya, one of the most delicious fruits many of us enjoy. Read about this here; A Lonely Quest for Facts on Genetically Modified Crops By AMY HARMON KONA, Hawaii — From the moment the bill to ban genetically engineered crops on the island of Hawaii was introduced in May 2013, it garnered more vocal support than any the County Council here had ever considered, even the perennially popular bids to decriminalize marijuana. Public hearings were dominated by recitations of the ills often attributed to genetically modified organisms, or G.M.O.s: cancer in rats, a rise in childhood allergies, out-of-control superweeds, genetic contamination, overuse of pesticides, the disappearance of butterflies and bees. Like some others on the nine-member Council, Greggor Ilagan was not even sure at the outset of the debate exactly what genetically modified organisms were: living things whose DNA has been altered, often with the addition of a gene from a distant species, to produce a desired trait. But he could see why almost all of his colleagues had been persuaded of the virtue of turning the island into what the bill’s proponents called a “G.M.O.-free oasis.” “You just type ‘G.M.O.’ and everything you see is negative,” he told his staff. Opposing the ban also seemed likely to ruin anyone’s re-election prospects. Yet doubts nagged at the councilman, who was serving his first two-year term. The island’s papaya farmers said that an engineered variety had saved their fruit from a devastating disease. A study reporting that a diet of G.M.O. corn caused tumors in rats, mentioned often by the ban’s supporters, turned out to have been thoroughly debunked. read more