It is over two decades since the Royal Commission on genetic modification (GM) responded to the task of evaluating the technology within the context of New Zealand.

The major theme of the 473-page report was self-described as “preserving opportunities”.

The authors went to considerable lengths to explain the different concerns and perspectives of New Zealanders who, by and large, were comfortable with GM for medical purposes, but were less so in food production.

Concerns were around the unproven “safety and certainty of the science”, the fact that world consumer preferences were against the use of genetic modification in food and that “first generation genetically modified crops have shown few obvious benefits for consumers”.

In 2001 some of the parroted statements from anti-GM websites were surprising. Two decades on and the statements are simply wrong.

This month in Science, a team of researchers led by Fred Gould, Distinguished University Professor of Entomology and Co-Director of the Genetic Engineering and Society Center of North Carolina State University, pointed out that the current approach to genetic engineering is foolish.