“Safe” for whom? This could mean several different things:
Does eating (a particular) GMO food cause health problems?
Does planting (a particular) GMO food crop cause chemical environmental problems, e.g. a chemical expressed by GMO crops causing beneficial insects to die off?
Does planting (a particular) GMO food crop cause biological environmental problems, e.g. by becoming an invasive weed?
Does planting (a particular) GMO food crop cause economic or governmental problems, e.g. by contaminating adjacent non-GMO fields with pollen from a patented gene line?
If GMO crops are very successful in the market, will this lead to crop monocultures that will experience catastrophic failures?
As with “organic food”, the halo/horns effect is strong with this one.
Are GMO foods safe?
“Safe” for whom? This could mean several different things:
Does eating (a particular) GMO food cause health problems?
Does planting (a particular) GMO food crop cause chemical environmental problems, e.g. a chemical expressed by GMO crops causing beneficial insects to die off?
Does planting (a particular) GMO food crop cause biological environmental problems, e.g. by becoming an invasive weed?
Does planting (a particular) GMO food crop cause economic or governmental problems, e.g. by contaminating adjacent non-GMO fields with pollen from a patented gene line?
If GMO crops are very successful in the market, will this lead to crop monocultures that will experience catastrophic failures?
As with “organic food”, the halo/horns effect is strong with this one.
Unfortunately, this question has become entangled with political/personal identity issues, and thus has become quite mind-killing.
Greenpeace and the Heritage Foundation both have strong (and opposed) opinions on the matter.