When I began my review of the websites I went in the order they were presented in the assignment: Monsanto, Scitable and last Say No to GMOs. Each of the sites was easy to use but Scitable is lacking in contact information that the other two have, or perhaps I was just unable to find it. Monsanto seemed to be focused toward selling to farmers and is clearly biased toward the benefits of breeding and biotechnology and how it isn’t much more than selecting the best organisms to yield better and better crops with a little help from technology. The site also tries to hide some of the bias through seeming open to either selective breeding or biotechnology and may one day move to just one if it is decidedly better. It was very informative but mostly stuck to the benefits and didn’t really address the negative side effects. I found this made me question the reliability since the site ignored the controversy instead of addressing it. Say No to GMO’s was blatantly against genetically modified organisms hence the title of the website. The one sidedness of the site made it hard to take the information as reliable because the perspective is clearly skewed. Scitable was the only site with an actual authors name attached to it and that author happens to have a Ph.D. This added with the informative nature of the site and it’s clear address of both sides of the issue made it the most reliable to me. The site seemed to only want to inform and let the reader decide. Both Say No to GMO’s and Scitable are only addressing the public, but being open and accepting the opposing views made Scitable stand out to me as the most reliable, Monsanto to be the second and Say No to GMO’s last.
After all the reading I have to say I am not completely opposed to eating GMO’s although I would like the FDA to require those foods to be clearly marked. It is our governments’ responsibility to protect the people not the companies and we have the right to know what we are eating. The fact that the FDA refuses to label GMO’s makes me want to avoid them more so than anything that I read on the websites.
Lutz, C. Greg. "Genetically Modified Organisms: A Continuing Controversy." Aquaculture Magazine 27.4 (2001): 8. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 May 2010.
I agree with you and I think that if it isn't a problem then the food should just be labeled and the fact that the FDA doesn't want them to be labeled makes me more worried then if it just said it on the package. People should know what they are buying and it should be a choice to buy food that are GMO's.
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