Yogic Flying at the Common Ground Fair

Anyone who has attended the Common Ground Fair knows the offerings range from the unusual to, well, the bizarre. The fair bills itself as blending "old-time folkways with progressive ideas." (No kidding!) This year fairgoers could be in for a real treat, a demonstration of "yogic flying," a form of meditation introduced by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. (Remember the Beatles?)


Jeffrey Smith, a devote of the Maharishi and accomplished yogic flyer, will be the keynote speaker at Saturday's session of the fair. Unfortunately, Smith is traveling to Maine from Fairfield, Iowa, home of the Maharishi University, not to demonstrate his aeronautical talents, but to sell books -- self-published, pseudo-scientific tracts about the evils of eating food made with biotech-enhanced crops. Smith's talk is based on his latest book "Genetic Roulette," in which he details sixty-five health risks from GMO-containing foods.


Smith's problem is he isn't qualified to shine Watson's & Crick's shoes (they discovered DNA), despite billing himself as "a leading spokesperson on the health dangers of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)." Smith's college degree is in business administration. His last hands-on trip to a science lab was probably in high school biology. But that hasn't stopped Smith from making a living writing books and delivering talks on the evils of biotechnology.

What about the sixty-five "health risks" Smith cites? Scientific experts have demolished the list. For example, Smith claims Arpad Puztai found damage in rats that ate genetically modified potatoes. What he doesn't say is that Nature retracted the publication when experts pointed out flaws in the study design. And the rats with bleeding stomachs caused by eating GMO tomatoes? Experts who examined the data found that both groups of rats, those eating GMO tomatoes and the control group eating regular tomatoes had bleeding stomachs. Turns our tomatoes are not good for rats. And on and on . . .

So why is the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association showcasing Smith? Two reasons. First, MOFGA's campaign to make Maine a GMO-free state is failing. Though MOFGA has won some small battles, it is losing the war. Maine farmers are planting more and more biotech crops. This year for the first time, dairy farmers were cleared to plant insect-resistant corn, a major blow to MOFGA. With the legislature, and now the regulators, showing no signs of blocking biotech-enhanced crops, MOFGA is getting desperate.


The second reason is more insidious. People buy higher-priced organic foods because they believe they are safer, more nutritious and growing them is better for the environment. Problem is, there is no scientific data to back that up, a fact confirmed by a study just published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. So, marketers of organic foods have turned to bashing traditional foods and GMO-containing foods in particular. It's no accident that Smith's home town, Fairfield, Iowa, is the home of Maharashi Vedic City where only organic food is sold and Maharishi Verdic Organic Products are produced.


For nearly 20 years, MOFGA has had it both ways. They have demanded solid scientific evidence from promoters of biotech crops, while relying on junk science to promote the virtue of organic foods. Inviting Jeffrey Smith to speak at the Common Ground Fair is the latest example. MOFGA needs to clean up its act. Talking out of both sides of your mouth may work for consumers, but the legislators, administrators and regulators MOFGA relies on to advance the organic agenda on a statewide level are beginning to notice.