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Keywords

new crops, green revolution, grafting, crop innovation, environmental effects, human health effects, regulation, developing countries, impact variability, food politics, food biotechnology, climate change, food distribution

Document Type

Article

Abstract

In a 1992 letter to the New York Times, a man named Paul Lewis referred to genetically modified (GM) crops as "Frankenfood," and wryly suggested it might be "time to gather the villagers, light some torches and head to the castle." Little did Lewis know that his neologism would become the rallying cry for activists around the world protesting the dangers of genetic engineering. The environmental activist group Greenpeace made great use of the "Frankenfood" epithet in their anti-GM campaigns of the 1990s, though they have since backed away from the word and the hardline stance it represents. But genetically modified crops, like Dr. Frankenstein's legendary creation, continue to be sadly misunderstood.

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