Neil deGrasse Tyson To GMO Critics: 'Chill Out'

William Wei, Business Insider

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, perhaps the country's most famous scientist, has a message for critics of genetically modified foods: "Chill out."

In a video we first saw at Mother Jones, he answers a question, asked in French, that roughly translates to: "What do you think about genetically modified plants?"

We have been genetically modifying food for "tens of thousands of years," he points out, and there's no reason to fear GMO foods created in a lab any more than seedless fruits created through selective breeding. GMO technology might scare people, he suggests, simply because "people don't fully understand it."

Tyson may not be a GMO expert, but the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the European Commission all agree with him on the safety of GMO foods. So does the research.

Here is his answer, in full:

And here's the video: