{"id":7915,"date":"2014-11-03T09:33:01","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T14:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/?p=7915"},"modified":"2014-11-03T09:53:14","modified_gmt":"2014-11-03T14:53:14","slug":"gmo-debate-new-yorker-vs-vandana-shiva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2014\/11\/03\/gmo-debate-new-yorker-vs-vandana-shiva\/","title":{"rendered":"GMO debate: <i>New Yorker<\/i> vs. Vandana Shiva"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With its passage of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CB4QFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.leg.state.vt.us%2Fdocs%2F2014%2FActs%2FACT120.pdf&amp;ei=6o1XVJ-2HrjbsATzjYGQBQ&amp;usg=AFQjCNG06-4d5TB2Tm6YAw4pBt7rzo-W3w&amp;sig2=4T8rwpIX2924eNMOeqihGg&amp;bvm=bv.78677474,d.eXY\">Act 120<\/a> this past June,\u00a0Vermont became the first U.S. state to require mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). (This followed Connecticut&#8217;s and Maine&#8217;s decisions to require it once\u00a0adjacent states do.) Since then, GMO food manufacturers <a href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator-usa.com\/Regulation\/GMA-seeks-injunction-to-stop-Vermont-implementing-GMO-labeling-law\">have announced they will challenge<\/a> that decision in court. Meanwhile, critics of GMOs have come under fire from some surprising places.<\/p>\n<p>Vandana Shiva is probably the best known critic of genetically modified foods. The prominent environmentalist, who was critiqued in an August article by Michael Specter in the <em>New Yorker<\/em>, spoke here (in Burlington, Vermont) over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>For those interested in following the debate that&#8217;s followed Specter&#8217;s article, I&#8217;ve compiled the main\u00a0sources on it below.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-7921\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2014\/11\/Vandana_shiva_20070610.jpg?resize=140%2C138\" alt=\"Vandana_shiva_20070610\" width=\"140\" height=\"138\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->1) Michael Specter&#8217;s <em>New Yorker<\/em> article, &#8220;Seeds of Doubt,&#8221; can be read here:<br \/>\n<a class=\"moz-txt-link-freetext\" href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2014\/08\/25\/seeds-of-doubt\">http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2014\/08\/25\/seeds-of-doubt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>2) Vandana Shiva&#8217;s detailed response to it, &#8220;Seeds of Truth,&#8221; can be read here:<br \/>\n<a class=\"moz-txt-link-freetext\" href=\"http:\/\/vandanashiva.com\/?p=105\">http:\/\/vandanashiva.com\/?p=105<\/a><\/p>\n<p>3) <em>New Yorker<\/em> editor David Remnick&#8217;s response to Shiva&#8217;s response can be read here:<br \/>\n<a class=\"moz-txt-link-freetext\" href=\"http:\/\/www.geneticliteracyproject.org\/2014\/09\/02\/new-yorker-editor-david-remnick-responds-to-vandana-shiva-criticism-of-michael-specters-profile\/\">http:\/\/www.geneticliteracyproject.org\/2014\/09\/02\/new-yorker-editor-david-remnick-responds-to-vandana-shiva-criticism-of-michael-specters-profile\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>4) Shiva responds indirectly to Remnick in this interview with the Italian newspaper <em>Repubblica<\/em>:<br \/>\n<a class=\"moz-txt-link-freetext\" href=\"http:\/\/www.repubblica.it\/ambiente\/2014\/10\/03\/news\/vandana_shiva_i_m_a_pain_in_the_neck_for_the_gmo_industry_they_want_to_discredit_me_but_i_will_continue_to_fight_-97239762\/\">http:\/\/www.repubblica.it\/ambiente\/2014\/10\/03\/news\/vandana_shiva_i_m_a_pain_in_the_neck_for_the_gmo_industry_they_want_to_discredit_me_but_i_will_continue_to_fight_-97239762\/<\/a><br \/>\n(I&#8217;m not aware of a more direct response from her.)<\/p>\n<p>5) Some further responses to the debate, from a range of environmentalist positions, can be found in these articles (and in the comments; see especially the 600 or so comments to the Grist piece):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a class=\"moz-txt-link-freetext\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gmwatch.org\/index.php\/news\/archive\/2014\/15631-responses-to-specter-s-pro-gmo-article-in-the-new-yorker\">http:\/\/www.gmwatch.org\/index.php\/news\/archive\/2014\/15631-responses-to-specter-s-pro-gmo-article-in-the-new-yorker<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"moz-txt-link-freetext\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodpolitics.com\/2014\/08\/on-two-views-of-gmos-michael-specter-vs-vandana-shiva-and-gary-hirshberg\/\">http:\/\/www.foodpolitics.com\/2014\/08\/on-two-views-of-gmos-michael-specter-vs-vandana-shiva-and-gary-hirshberg\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"moz-txt-link-freetext\" href=\"http:\/\/grist.org\/food\/vandana-shiva-so-right-and-yet-so-wrong\/\">http:\/\/grist.org\/food\/vandana-shiva-so-right-and-yet-so-wrong\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>See also the sources listed on this Society of Environmental Journalists page devoted to the controversy:\u00a0<a class=\"moz-txt-link-freetext\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sej.org\/headlines\/seeds-doubt\">http:\/\/www.sej.org\/headlines\/seeds-doubt<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And if you wish to read a fairly run-of-the-mill example of a right-wing anti-Shiva screed, Ronald Bailey&#8217;s\u00a0piece in the libertarian monthly <em>Reason<\/em>\u00a0is as typical as any (note the title and the reference to Goebbels): <a href=\"http:\/\/reason.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/29\/vandana-shiva-is-one-of-the-worlds-worst\">http:\/\/reason.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/29\/vandana-shiva-is-one-of-the-worlds-worst<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Navigating between such\u00a0polarized views is not easy. The GMO debate, of course, exceeds the work of any single activist, but these pieces offer a good starting point for those wishing to get caught up on the most recent flare-up.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With its passage of Act 120 this past June,\u00a0Vermont became the first U.S. state to require mandatory labeling of foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs). (This followed Connecticut&#8217;s and Maine&#8217;s decisions to require it once\u00a0adjacent states do.) Since then, GMO food manufacturers have announced they will challenge that decision in court. Meanwhile, critics of GMOs [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[196,691215],"tags":[123545,5701,123547,123544,123543,123546,551],"class_list":["post-7915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecoculture","category-politics_postpolitics","tag-environmental-science","tag-food","tag-food-politics","tag-gmo-labeling","tag-gmos","tag-vandana-shiva","tag-vermont"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4IC4a-23F","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8394,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2015\/09\/18\/eco-humanities-glossolalia\/","url_meta":{"origin":7915,"position":0},"title":"Eco-humanities glossolalia","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"September 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I've just come across the earliest outline I wrote for the course I'm currently teaching (in its third incarnation), \"Environmental Literature, Arts, and Media.\" The course has also turned into a book project I'm working on, which will be a thematic primer to the environmental arts and humanities.\u00a0Both course and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academe&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8051,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2015\/04\/09\/33%e2%85%93-environmental-studies-greats-or-a-canon-revisited\/","url_meta":{"origin":7915,"position":1},"title":"33\u2153 Environmental Studies greats (or, a canon, revisited)","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"April 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The following is a significantly revised version of an article I posted to the Indications\u00a0blog\u00a0(and\u00a0etc)\u00a0five and a half years ago. I was curious to see how much of it still holds (a lot, I think), so I've revisited it and expanded its proposed sort-of-canon, in the second part of what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academe&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Throbbing-Gristle-20-Jazz-Funk-Greats","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2015\/03\/Throbbing-Gristle-20-Jazz-Funk-Greats-275x275.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5737,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2012\/04\/29\/whiteheads-return-ecologys-boon\/","url_meta":{"origin":7915,"position":2},"title":"Whitehead&#8217;s return, ecology&#8217;s boon","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"April 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Ultimately, the thinking of speculative pragmatism that is activist philosophy belongs to nature. Its aesthetico-politics compose a nature philosophy. The occurrent arts in which it exhibits itself are politics of nature. \"The one-word summary of its relational-qualitative goings on: ecology. Activist philosophy concerns the ecology of powers of existence. Becomings\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Eco-theory&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Eco-theory","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/ecophilosophy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2012\/04\/flock1-275x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10589,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2020\/05\/01\/planet-of-some-humans\/","url_meta":{"origin":7915,"position":3},"title":"Planet of Some Humans","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"May 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This past week has seen a firestorm of reaction among environmentalists and climate and energy scientists to the online release of the film Planet of the Humans. Written, directed, and produced by first-time director Jeff Gibbs, but -- much more importantly -- executive-produced and actively promoted by Michael Moore, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cinema&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cinema","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/cinema_zone\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/05\/3e56f931-6126-4af7-aaf6-7d9abd45dfb0-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/05\/3e56f931-6126-4af7-aaf6-7d9abd45dfb0-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/05\/3e56f931-6126-4af7-aaf6-7d9abd45dfb0-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/05\/3e56f931-6126-4af7-aaf6-7d9abd45dfb0-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/05\/3e56f931-6126-4af7-aaf6-7d9abd45dfb0-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/files\/2020\/05\/3e56f931-6126-4af7-aaf6-7d9abd45dfb0-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13296,"url":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/2023\/12\/22\/indigenous-identity-vermont-an-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":7915,"position":4},"title":"Indigenous identity &amp; Vermont: an update, updated","author":"Adrian J Ivakhiv","date":"December 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a follow-up to a series of posts shared here on the topic of Indigenous identity, allyship, and the situation in my local state of Vermont. 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One of the paradoxes of environmental scholarship is that, for obvious reasons, many of us favor localism over globalism, community solutions over international policy crafting (though we obviously recognize the need for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academe&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academe","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/category\/academe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/JTTC_fD598A\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7915"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7922,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7915\/revisions\/7922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/aivakhiv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}