According to linguistics professor Guy Cook, author of Genetically Modified Language, debates over genetically modified food “often use words commonly associated with war in which battles are fought with attacks and assaults”:
Interestingly, the two topics–GMs and war–might not be separate. Instead, they may be part of broader international debate involving recurring themes and ideological differences. This point is supported by a study examining the coverage of GMs by the British press and public reactions to it during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. At times, GM coverage was displaced in order to focus on Iraq. However, at other times, the two topics became interrelated through the use of parallels, emotive epithets, and metaphors. Using corpus linguistic analysis, expert and non-expert interviews and focus group discussions, the study found: “Both in the press and in public reaction, the issue of GM was found to be intimately associated with other political events of the time, notably the invasion of Iraq.”
Previous Dish on genetically modified food here, here, and here.
The Dish 