Paradisi - Do you have something in Australian called canola which is not genetically modified??? What canola is given to us by Canada is all GM, it was an alteration of rapeseed to remove an undesirable compound (an acid, I believe), and they called that GM product "canola". There are some things I don't like about the way it was done and I've chosen to use another oil which I believe is better anyways (see another running thread).
I believe most GM products are probably okay for human consumption but there are too many unknowns that can only be resolved after many years of testing or consumption and it's probably best not to use our bodies in these tests.
As Richard states, a lot of the fear is due to misunderstandings. Centuries ago many people were also opposed to the idea of people messing around with plants and doing grafting. It sure didn't seem natural and it obviously wasn't. Today there is virtually no opposition to this practice (see my photos at
Correia Chestnut Farm - American Grown Fresh Chestnuts From Our Family Farm to You; large hand-harvested Colossal chestnuts, recipes, instructions for roasting chestnuts, chestnut roasters, chestnut knives and you'll easily guess my view on the subject!).
Diversity is something that is very lacking in most large-scale farming and it's mostly driven by the fact that the vast majority of consumers want the cheapest source of food possible. You can blame Monsanto for it if you want, but it all comes back to the consumer. You vote with your pocketbook.