Sir, - The term "organically-grown" (Jim O'Connor, June 16th) is scientifically meaningless. As every Junior Cert biology student knows, the nutrition of higher plants is wholly inorganic. It is not surprising, therefore, that the organic scene is riven with anomalies and exceptions. Thus the essential (inorganic) plant nutrient phosphorus is acceptable if it is derived from the breakdown of seaweed trucked in from the Irish coast, but unacceptable if the identical element is derived from a phosphate-rich deposit in Morocco. "Organically-grown" potatoes may be sprayed with chemical fungicides, as otherwise blight would destroy the crop. If such fungicides had been available in the 1840s the Irish Famine could have been prevented.
Man has been genetically modifying plants for millennia; the major food crops on which the world's population depends (wheat, maize, rice, potatoes, soybean) are now unrecognisable compared with their wild ancestors. The anti-GMO movement (encouraged, risibly, by celebrity chefs) demands a risk-free world and is transfixed by the hypothetical possibility of adverse effects to someone, somewhere, sometime in the future. Meanwhile, back in the real world, 400 people will be killed on our roads this year and 6,000 will be killed by smoking-related diseases. - Yours, etc., Con O'Rourke,
Park Lane, Dublin 4.