(NaturalNews) The mainstream media is abuzz with unrelenting fervor and excitement over the recent conversion of former anti-GMO (genetically-modified organism) scientist Mark Lynas, who now openly embraces GMO technology and insists that he was wrong to oppose GMOs all these years. A self-proclaimed founder of the so-called "anti-GMO movement," Lynas now claims that a thorough examination of "science" woke him up to a new reality in which GMOs are no longer an evil product of the money-grubbing biotechnology industry, and are instead the answer to virtually all of mankind's food and environmental problems.

This sudden and almost schizophrenic shift in opinion by Lynas is being embraced with open arms by media groups of all political persuasions, including both the neoconservative magazine National Review and the traditionally "liberal" New York Times (NYT), as well as everything in between. This is hardly surprising, of course, as most of these news sources are directly funded by the likes of both the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, which just so happen to control large segments of the American media machine.

Lynas' conversion hinged on his indoctrination into pro-GMO propaganda

So what exactly persuaded Lynas to make such a dramatic change? In a speech he recently gave at the Oxford Farming Conference in the U.K., Lynas explained that he "discovered science," which undid many years' worth of "false" beliefs he had about the nature of GMOs. One of the first examples Lynas gave as a supposed scientific revelation; however, was his discovery that GMOs do not require the increased use of pesticides, a claim also made by the biotechnology industry, but one that does not actually hold water scientifically or factually by any stretch of the imagination.

As it turns out, GMOs do require more pesticides and herbicides than conventional crops, despite what the GMO industry and its media lackeys portend. A 16-year study on crop chemical use that was published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Sciences Europe back in 2012, for instance, found that the introduction of GMOs into the food supply has led to a drastic increase in the amount of herbicide chemicals used on crops. According to the data, total herbicide use has increased by a whopping 527 million pounds since 1996 when GMOs were first introduced. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com)

Perhaps Lynas simply missed the memo about this important study. But this was not the only major error he made throughout his scientific discovery process. As illustrated by his many other misinformed comments at the meeting, Lynas is apparently also under the false impression that GMOs are financially lucrative for farmers, and that they do not rob farmers of the right to save their seeds. Lynas also now claims that farmers actually want GMOs, and that they have had to be secretly smuggled into India and elsewhere throughout the world to replace natural varieties.

Lynas' conversion brings to light ridiculous fantasy world of pro-GMO crowd

This last claim is particularly egregious, as we reported back in 2011 that hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers were committing suicide because of the importation of GM Bt cotton, and the destruction this Trojan Horse crop caused throughout the country. Again, it is unclear what "scientific evidence" Lynas was exposed to in the process of his conversion, but it does not seem to align with the true nature of GMOs in real life. (http://www.naturalnews.com/030913_Monsanto_suicides.html)

Lynas went on in his speech to divulge plenty of other untruths that he claims are true, but the point here is that the system apparently got to this key figure in the GMO truth movement, and convinced him to completely change his position. Either that or Lynas is now having some serious delusions that have caused him to abandon reality and slink back into the pseudoscientific cesspool that is conventional GMO "science."

Sources for this article include:

http://www.marklynas.org

http://www.naturalnews.com/033925_organic_farming_crop_yields.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/z038853_GMOs_activism_brainwashed.html