b'GIANT VIEWSBY: MARK LYNASONE-FIFTH OF MEDIA STORIES ON GMOS IN AFRICA CONTAIN MISINFORMATIONextent of GMO-related misinformation inmust stop publishing false claims on this the worlds media, based on a comprehen- subject spread by anti-science activists.sive dataset. The fact that the problem of misin-The study assessed top English- formation on GMOs is particularly acute language media from around the world,in Africa, is very worrying. Because this with stories published over a two-yearis where it is harming the livelihoods of period between January 2019 and Januarysmallholder farmers by preventing them 2021. Overall, 9 per cent (47) of the 535from accessing new crop varieties that relevant articles containing GMO-relatedare resistant to pests and tolerant to keywords contained misinformation. Thisdrought caused by climate change.false information was considered likelyIt is vital that the benefits of scientific to have had a potential reach of 256 mil- innovation are not denied to people in the lion people. This means that more thanGlobal South. The Alliance for Science Mark Lynas a quarter of a billion people across thevows that it will continue to combat mis-globe could have been exposed to misin- information on this subject and others formation surrounding GMOs. via its Nairobi-based Global South Hub, M isinformation is a serious prob- In addition, the study showed thatand by working with partners includ-lem in scientific debates rangingone-fifth of African media coverage ofing the Open Forum for Agricultural from climate change to vaccinesgenetically modified foods contained mis- Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB).to nuclear power. It can damage societysinformation. The corresponding figuresIt is very unfortunate to see that interests because people who are misin- for North America and Europe were 5 permisinformation about GMOs in the main-formed about an issue may make decisionscent and 7 per cent, respectively. stream media is still a significant problem based on flawed or false information. ForAs well as regional tags, the articlesand outranks the proportion of misinfor-example, the World Health Organizationwere also subjected to sentiment analy- mation in other comparable debates such declared an infodemic during the initialsis. While an overwhelming majority ofas COVID-19 and vaccines.stages of the COVID-19 pandemic due toarticles were categorized as neutral, the the proliferation of misinformation aboutmajority of misinformation was rated asABOUT THE STUDYthe disease, its causes, and possible treat- negative in tone. There were no articlesThe study was conducted in partnership ments. This infodemic led to increasedcontaining misinformation with a positivewith Cision Media, using its NextGen data-death rates and disease due to people seek- tone towards GMOs. base of global media. Sentiment analysis ing and applying inappropriate treatmentsand categorization was performed manu-and ignoring and resisting evidence-basedTHE IMPACT OF GMOS ONally, not by machine. The paper was pub-control measures. HUMAN HEALTH lished in the peer-reviewed journal GM Genetically modified crops haveThe biggest category of misinformationCrops & Food, with the citation: Lynas, been subject to a decades-long, orches- concerned human health. This categoryM., Adams, J., Conrow, J. Misinformation trated campaign of misinformation byincludes articles containing claims thatin the media: global coverage of GMOs opponents. This has yielded substantiallyGMOs cause cancer or other health impacts2019-2021. GM Crops & Food (2022) DOI: negative public attitudes and media cov- without refutation, because such claims10.1080/21645698.2022.2140568erage and resulted in biotech regulatorycontradict a worldwide scientific consen-systems that are de-facto prohibitionarysus that food from genetically engineeredABOUT THE ALLIANCE FOR in many geographies. crops is as safe as food from non-geneti- SCIENCEThe Alliance for Science has previ- cally engineered crops. MisinformationThe Alliance for Science seeks to promote ously published work on quantifying theon GMOs and human health also had theaccess to scientific innovation as a means scientific consensus on climate changehighest readership, achieving a potentialof enhancing food security, improving and examining media misinformationreach of 139 million people. environmental sustainability, and raising both on COVID-19 and vaccines. In aOn this specific issue of GMO mis- the quality of life globally. recent study we quantitatively assessedinformation, our results show that mis-the phenomenon of misinformation oninformation about GMOs is still a hugeEditors Note: Mark Lynas is Climate genetically modified crops and foodproblem, and that hundreds of millions ofand Research Lead for Alliance for (GMOs) in the mainstream and onlinepeople are being given false informationSciencenews media over a two-year period. Andthat contradicts the scientific consen-we defined misinformation as informationsus on the safety of genetic engineering. which is at variance with widely acceptedMake no mistake: misinformation about scientific consensus on the safety ofGMOs can be as harmful to society as genetic engineering. This new paper ismisinformation on vaccines or climate thought to be the first to quantify thechange. The media must do better andhttps://allianceforscience.org/ 40IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'