Why Neil Young’s viral anti-Monsanto and Starbucks song is wrong on GMO safety

Neil Young Per Ole Hagen

Neil Young blew up the Internet this past weekend with the video release of “A Rock Star Bucks a Coffee Shop,” in which he assails “fascist politicians,” Starbucks Coffee Company and Monsanto Company for, like, you know, GMOs and stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of Young, whom I found in person to be kind, soft-spoken, generous and sincere, and professionally to be at times a terrific songwriter, guitarist, singer and bandleader. But, Neil, you’re just wrong, wrong, wrong on this GMO issue, despite writing a whistle-able and hummable song against Starbucks and Monsanto.

For the edification of ol’ Shakey and the religious shareholder activists at AYS and ICCR, there exists no legitimate scientific evidence indicating negative impacts from GMOs – neither in livestock fed GMO-derived feed nor humans ingesting dairy, poultry and meat products that has been raised on GMO feedstock. Zilch, nada and none. But don’t take my word for it, just as I wouldn’t expect readers in this space to take Neil Young’s new ditty as settled science. Two months before Young vented against Starbucks, Jon Entine reported in Forbes:

Writing in the Journal of Animal Science, in the most comprehensive study of GMOs and food ever conducted, University of California-Davis Department of Animal Science geneticist Alison Van Eenennaam and research assistant Amy E. Young reviewed 29 years of livestock productivity and health data from both before and after the introduction of genetically engineered animal feed.

Oh, if only research assistant Amy E. Young [presumably no relation to Neil Young] would pick up a guitar, enlist a backup band and record a song and video to spread the good word!

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Neil Young, Starbucks and the War on GMOs

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