A New York Times feature on a fierce GMO debate in Hawaii casts the idiocy and hypocrisy of the modern green movement on the issue in stark relief. For anyone curious themselves about the GMO debate, this is a piece worth reading in full. But here’s the quick and dirty summary: our best scientific understanding of genetically modified crops suggests that they’re just as safe as their non-modified counterparts.

Even at the most basic level the distinction between GMOs and “natural” foods doesn’t make sense. When they’ve got scientific evidence on their side, green campaigners spew hate speech about the evil science deniers on the other side. But the moment a scientific consensus attacks some cherished green myth (organic good, GMO bad, for example), they spew hate speech against scientists as corporate shills.What the planet and the people who live on it badly need is a pro-environment, pro-people movement that actually cares about scientific evidence.